In early June, Erynn Chambers stepped onto her porch, just outside the front door of her North Carolina home, opened TikTok on her phone, and began to film herself.

"Black neighborhoods are overpoliced, so of course they have higher rates of crime," she sang to her own tune. "And white perpetrators are undercharged, so of course they have lower rates of crime."

Chambers, 27, who started using the short-form video app during quarantine, had just watched a TikTok by drag queen Online Kyne discussing the manipulation of statistics to make Black Americans appear more violent. Chambers, an elementary school music teacher, set her frustration to music.

"It went viral pretty much overnight," Chambers said. "It was incredible."

Chambers refers to her content, made under the user name @Rynnstar, as "edu-tainment" education and entertainment and she uses it, in part, to raise awareness of the American Black experience. She's one of a number of Black creators on TikTok who have used the app as a platform for advocacy against racism. Chambers' post has nearly 2 million views and was reposted countless times.

But TikTok sits uneasily at the intersection of viral social media, celebrity and activism. The platform has long been accused of elevating white voices over Black voices. While Black creators have been integral to the rise of TikTok some of the most popular dances, challenges and trends were born in the imaginations of Black TikTokers their work hasn't always gotten the same level of attention as that of their white peers.

Black creators said that their content wasn't highlighted on the "For You" page at the same rate as that of their white peers and that their videos have been taken down and audio-disabled without explanation, and experts say they often don't get credit for trends and challenges they start.

Over the last few months, however, in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd in police custody in May and Breonna Taylor in March, TikTok has made some forays into elevating Black creators on the app. Yet some worry that there's a flip side to the elevation of activism: burnout.

In early June, just days before Chambers' viral video was posted, TikTok posted an apology to its Black creators, saying it was sorry to those "who have felt unsafe, unsupported, or suppressed." TikTok promised long-term action to make the platform more diverse and to elevate Black creators. The apology came after a TikTok Blackout in May, an on-app protest against the suppression of Black voices, as protests against police brutality and racism took place worldwide.

Since then, some users of TikTok, including many Black creators, have reported seeing a more diverse and inclusive "For You" page, TikTok's infinite scroll homepage, which feeds users a constant stream of videos. In the past, the "For You" page has been accused of what might be called infinite whiteness.

But grading the app's move toward inclusiveness and how successfully it's amplifying Black voices differs across content creators. Some say they are optimistic that a more inclusive TikTok is in the works; others describe the battle for representation as simply exhausting. Each of the half-dozen Black TikTok creators who spoke to NBC News said they've experienced burnout but some, who say they are tired of arguing with followers and fighting for representation, are considering leaving the app altogether.

One frustration that can lead to burnout is the lack of credit given to Black creators who originate trends on the app, said University of Southern California assistant journalism professor Allissa Richardson, author of "Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones and the New Protest #Journalism."

"I saw a ton of Black youth creators complaining that even though they made up these dance challenges, they were increasingly being pushed to the bottom of the search results on TikTok," Richardson said.

Most famous is the renegade, a dance phenomenon that helped propel white creators like Charli D'Amelio to over 70 million followers. It was created by a Black 14-year-old named Jalaiah Harmon. Although the trend was, for a time, the most popular on the app, Jalaiah was recognized only toward the end of the trend's life cycle by mainstream media and TikTok alike, garnering profiles in the The New York Times and Teen Vogue. She now has over 1 million followers on TikTok.

TikTok isn't the only social media platform to have come under scrutiny over its handling of race. YouTube, Twitter and Reddit have been accused of allowing hate speech to thrive.

"TikTok is acknowledging the problem. They're not saying it's not real. They're saying we have work to do," said Bria Jones, 26, a fashion, beauty and lifestyle TikTok influencer based in Kansas. Jones, who goes by @HeyBriaJones on the app, has grown a base of more than 278,000 followers in just under a year.

Mutale Nkonde, a fellow at Stanford University's Digital Civil Society Lab who is a member of TikTok's independent advisory board, the Content Advisory Council (she doesn't work for TikTok), said she has been impressed with TikTok's proactiveness in addressing racism on the app.

"They're really leading in terms of seeking out people who will push back against the technology when the technology is not doing right by Black people," Nkonde said.

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The issues of racial bias and content suppression of Black creators on TikTok reached a boiling point on May 19, when Black TikTok creators held a Blackout to uplift their content and raise awareness that their videos were underrepresented.

During the Blackout, users changed their profile pictures to the Black Lives Matter raised first. Black creators used specific hashtags like "#ImBlackMovement" and posted videos about their content and experiences on TikTok. In solidarity, some white creators agreed not to post content to help amplify their Black counterparts.

June 1 brought the TikTok apology.

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer, along with some of the app's engineers, also held a video conference last month with around a dozen Black creators, including Jones, to learn more about their experiences.

"I do feel like they are making changes," Jones said. Other Black creators said they're noticing more equality on the app, too.

High school activist Deonna Blocker, 17, who goes by @Deesymone on the app, estimates that she now sees 70 percent Black creators on her "For You" page and 30 percent white creators. However, because every user's "For You" page is different based on the content a user interacts with, it's unclear whether any other user is being shown the same breakdown of content.

"I think they're definitely doing a better job at presenting Black creators. Before ... my ['For You' page] was very white, and I would very rarely see a Black creator," Deonna said. "Once everything went down with George Floyd and even Juneteenth and the Blackouts ... it went up significantly." Deonna's videos calling out racism and highlighting Blackouts have gotten thousands of views.

Improvement can be creator-specific: TikTok's "For You" homepage feeds each user a unique stream of content. While some Black creators say they're seeing changes noticing more engagement and increases in followers others say they believe they're shadow banned on the app, or blocked from reaching the main TikTok feed without any kind of notification from TikTok.

TikTok told NBC News it unequivocally does not shadow ban users.

Nkonde, the advisory council member, said the app has also told her it doesn't engage in shadow banning. But she said that if shadow banning still occurs as a glitch in the system, it must be addressed.

"If your app is just going to have all of these glitches and all of these glitches impact Black people, your app is still racist," Nkonde said.

Emily Barbour, 25, who is @emuhhhleebee on the app, said she feels as though she's being gaslighted when she's told that the app is working to highlight Black creators. Some videos Barbour has posted that she felt would typically get high levels of engagement have hardly made a blip on the radar of other TikTokers.

"It's exhausting, because it's just following along this pattern that's been going on for decades, years, centuries, where Black people aren't being heard and everybody's pretending it's not happening," Barbour said.

Chambers, who created the viral song, had used her platform to convey a wealth of information, from linguistics to history to activism, long before this spring's Black Lives Matter protests. But Chambers said that after the May Blackout and the June apology, she noticed that her account was starting to pick up traction. Her account has more than 400,000 followers.

Other TikTokers, like Jones, moved toward activism after Floyd's death.

"I started speaking on Black lives, and I started speaking on my experiences, and I started this series where I talked about my experiences with microaggressions, and that went very, very viral and brought in a lot of new followers for me, and those were just straight up stories I experienced," Jones said.

Jones said she shifted her TikTok's focus to include education when she interacted with followers who told her they had changed their behavior after learning from her.

But a large following can be excessively demanding.

"When you've got 400,000 people who want to hear you and are expecting to hear from you, it can be exhausting," Chambers said.

All of the creators who spoke to NBC News said they have experienced burnout at one point or another especially those whose pages have been elevated and whose follower counts have skyrocketed.

"People assume because you're willing to speak up about something, you're now an ambassador to everybody else in your demographic, and it's not true. ... It does contribute a lot to the burnout, because I don't know everything. Not one of us knows everything," Barbour said.

Barbour said that for Black creators, sharing their trauma in the name of education can feel draining and that having to argue with followers about their experiences can lead them to want to quit altogether.

"It's so unrealistic to assume because you like this Black creator and because they speak up about these things that they're going to speak up about everything and give their opinions about everything," she said. "It can't work, especially considering this is an app and it's something we're not getting paid for."

Frustration and burnout aren't the only side effects Black creators experience when their content isn't elevated and they're not given credit for their work, said Richardson, the journalism professor.

"For some of these kids, they do want to have that level of clout that will enable them to do other things that they love," she said. "And without that necessary audience, those eyeballs, without that metric in place to prove that they are an influencer, they're denied the lucrative endorsements that maybe their white peers receive more regularly."

Jones said she believes a more equitable TikTok is coming, particularly after the meeting with other Black creators and TikTok executives last month.

"It's a difficult issue, because it's so much deeper than an algorithm," Jones said. "It's a society thing. It's going to take a lot of work."

TikTok executives told Jones that they planned to check in with the creators who were invited to the meeting after 90 days to discuss whether they've seen improvements in the app's equity.

Jones said she's optimistic that the future of TikTok is one in which Black creators are on a level playing field with their white counterparts.

"It will come in time. I don't know what that timeline's going to look like, but I'm very hopeful TikTok has the resources and brainpower on their team to make this happen," she said.

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From the renegade to Black Lives Matter how Black creators are changing TikTok culture. - NBC News

Police in Wenham and Marblehead say they have identifiedsuspects in the thefts and vandalism of Black Lives Matter signs in those communities.

Wenham Town Administrator Anthony Ansaldi told the Board of SelectmenTuesday night that police received a call about a theft in progress on Saturday night and that officers apprehended two suspects, according to an online recording of the meeting.

Deputy police Chief Kevin DiNapoli, who was one of the responding officers, told selectmen that an investigation tied the suspects to two previous incidents of stolen Black Lives Matter signs. Police are also investigating a fourth incident, he said.

"It may end up being a total of four cases," DiNapoli told selectmen. He said police were working with the Essex District Attorney's office to determine what charges to file.Ansaldi told selectmen that the suspects were not from Wenham.

DiNapoli did not return a message seeking more information. Carrie Kimball, a spokeswoman for the DA's office, said the suspects were not arrested, but said police have submitted an application for a criminal complaint in Ipswich District Court. Kimball said the complaint would not be made public unless or until the clerk issues a criminal complaint.

In Marblehead, police posted a message on the department's Facebook page saying they had concluded their investigation into the vandalism of a Black Lives Matter banner at the Unitarian Universalist Church. The message said the matter has been referred to the clerk magistrate of the Lynn District Court, who will determine if there is probable cause for a criminal complaint to be issued.

Marblehead police Chief Robert Picariello said he had nothing further to say beyond the department's Facebook post.

The incident occurred on June 28 at the church on Mugford Street. Police released a video showing a man walking up to the area where a Black Lives Matter banner was hung, crouching over, and then walking away. Police did not release details of the damage to the sign.

In Beverly, police are still investigating the theft of a Black Lives Matter flag from a flagpole outside City Hall on Cabot Street overnight on July 4 or 5. Police Chief John LeLacheur said Wednesday that police have interviewed several people but had no new information to release.

The incidents in Beverly and Marblehead sparked a protest outside Beverly City Hall on Tuesday, where about 75 people gathered for two hours to listen to speakers. Protest organizers said they plan to return to Beverly City Hall on Friday at 4 p.m. and march to the Unitarian Universalist Church in Marblehead.

Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535 or pleighton@salemnews.com.

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Suspects ID'd in theft, vandalism of Black Lives Matter signs - The Salem News

The Boston Celtics released photos of their jerseys for the bubble on Wednesday, bearing messages related to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Several of the NBAs approved slogans are represented. Jayson Tatum and Daniel Theis went with Black Lives Matter, while Jaylen Brown chose Liberation. Both Tacko Fall and Vincent Poirier chose Egalite, which is French for equality. Both Enes Kanter and Marcus Smart will wear Freedom. Robert Williams went with Respect Us. Gordon Hayward opted for Education Reform.

Brown told reporters earlier this month that he was considering wearing nothing on the back of his jersey -- no name or message at all. That idea was originally suggested by Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler.

What I thought was clever with that was the potential of not having anything was playing for the people that we dont get to see every single day or we dont hear their names, Brown said. We hear Breonna Taylor, we hear Philando Castile, we hear Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin. We hear all those names that we hear in the media because somebody was lucky enough to have a cell phone, but what about the people who didnt have the cell phone available at the time and they experienced police brutality, they experienced social stratification and education or not getting help in healthcare? There are so many different things that go unnoticed and its bigger than what we see now. I think police brutality is just the tip of the iceberg. Being able to have an empty space and playing for some of those people that we dont know their names and we may not ever know their names, I think thats powerful too.

Smart said he wished for more options, but he wanted to support the movement.

Like I said, I would have loved to have the option to choose, but I still wanted to show that I still have care for the cause and I still want to keep awareness going and stuff like that, Smart said. So Im going to put Freedom on the back of my jersey.

Both Kemba Walker and Semi Ojeleye, meanwhile, opted for Love us.

With everything Ive seen going on in the world, the root of it is hate, Ojeleye said. When it boils down to it at the end of the day we have to treat people right, and the only way to do that is to love people, regardless of skin color, ethnicity, where they are from, what they believe in, we have to treat people the right way, and to do that, you have to love them. So thats what I believe God wants us to do, thats why Im going to put that on the back, and hopefully we can continue that conversation until we all get it right.

Heres the full list.

The Celtics open their seeding games against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.

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Boston Celtics release photos of Black Lives Matter jerseys, including Jaylen Browns Liberation jersey & m - MassLive.com

When Dan Bushnell of Whitehorse bought plywood to make a couple ofroadside signs in support of anti-racism protesters, he figured he'd buy some extra.

"We didn't buy two sheets of plywood. We bought four, because we knew full well the signs would be vandalized, that they would be destroyed," Bushnell said.

"It wasn't a question of whether or not they were going to be vandalized, unfortunately. It was when."

Bushnell was proven right one of the two big signs was recently damaged, and the other simply disappeared from alongside Two Mile Hill in the city's downtown on Monday.

They were erected last month, when anti-racism demonstrations were being staged around the world, including in Whitehorse. Bushnell said it felt like a timely gesture of support.

"BLACK LIVES THEY MATTER HERE," the signs read.

"It's something that needed to be done, and that Ias an individual wanted to show support and say, you know, this is something that in my community even, in my town, I'm actually not going to stand for it," Bushnellsaid.

"We live in a community where racism is still very, very prevalent."

He says he fixed the sign on Two Mile Hill three times before it disappeared. The other, on Robert Service Way, he fixed twice.

"Now it's currently at my house, because someone smashed a hole in the centre of it," he said.

Paige Gallettesaysshe's not surprised by what happened to the signs. She's more surprised that they stood for as long as they did.

She said she was excited when they first went up.

"It was nice to see that, you know, as a Black person we don't always have to do all the work and that white people can step up and support community by using their skills and resources," she said.

"The fact that [the signs]stayed up for a long time also says that not only are we ready to have this conversation, but people are ready to step up and to support community members."

She calls what happened to the signs a reality check.

"Obviously it's not good that it happened,but it's a good visual of what happens in our community," she said.

Bushnell says he's not deterred he's working to put up new signs. And he says he's been told by city officials that he'll need a permit.

"I'm going to reach out to some folks and see if we can get them up on the highway, maybe get them a bit higher so they're harder for people to vandalize, and see what we can do," he said.

"It's about letting people know, like, this is a place where we actually care about this, and this is a place where we're going to work on it."

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Black Lives Matter sign in Whitehorse damaged, while another disappears - CBC.ca

Forty-five percent of Oregonians do not approve of the job their local police are doing, according to new polling released Tuesday by the Portland-based pollster DHM Research and the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center.

The statewide survey plumbed 603 Oregonians opinions on police, protests and racial injustice. And their opinions were stark: 55% reported that they think police treat white people better than Black people. The surveys margin of error ranges from plus or minus two to four percentage points, depending on the questions.

Oregonians increasingly support the Black Lives Matter movement and George Floyd protests. More than two-thirds of Oregonians polled support the Black Lives Matter movement now, in contrast to 54% in a 2018 survey by the same company. The police killing of George Floyd has sparked protests in Portland over the past 62 days and the polling showed that Democrats, Portland residents, and 18- to 29-year-olds are the most supportive of the protests.

And only 35% of Oregonians support how police nationwide have responded to protests.

At the same time, Oregonians are also increasingly frustrated with the direction that the state is going. The percentage of Oregonians who think the state is heading in the right direction has fallen sharply in the last few months, from 51% in April to 43% in June, and now to 33% in July, according to the poll.

DHM Research reported it hasnt recorded such a sharp decline in sentiment since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The survey didnt address why Oregonians are feeling so pessimistic, but the report said theyre more likely to believe crime is increasing in their communities, and a vast majority dont support the way the police have responded to recent protests only 35% approve.

Despite the large support for the Black Lives Matter movement and George Floyd protests, theres not a consensus as to how and whether Oregons police departments should be reformed. But 62% of Oregonians reported that the deaths of Black people during encounters with police in recent years are a sign of a bigger problem.

While 31% of respondents reported that police reform hasnt worked and defunding police and reinventing the approach to public safety is necessary for change, 39% believe police departments problems with race can be fixed by reforming the existing system. One-fifth said police departments dont need reform.

A majority of Oregonians, 57%, support cutting some police funding, and shifting those resources to social services.

Theres more agreement among Oregonians on specific policy changes to policing. The study found high levels of support for policies such as requiring police officers to intervene and stop excessive use of force by other officers, requiring officers to report each time they use or threaten to use force, requiring states to release officer disciplinary records and banning the use of chokeholds and no-knock warrants.

And while federal officers have used tear gas and less-lethal munitions almost nightly in Portland during recent protests, Oregonians are split about whether to ban them. Statewide, 50% of those polled said they would support a ban, while 55% in the Portland metro area support one.

The poll found racial injustice is the second-most important community issue Oregonians want their elected officials to act upon, only behind COVID-19. Almost two-thirds are worried that the recent protests may lead to an increase in coronavirus cases.

-- Celina Tebor

ctebor@oregonian.com

@CelinaTebor

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New polling shows most Oregonians support Black Lives Matter, many dont approve of the job their local polic - OregonLive

PORTLAND, Ore. Seyi Fasoranti, a chemist who moved to Oregon from the East Coast six months ago, has watched the Black Lives Matter protests in Portland with fascination. A sea of white faces in one of the whitest major American cities has cried out for racial justice every night for nearly two months.

Its something I joke about with my friends, Mr. Fasoranti, who is Black, said over the din of protest chants this week. There are more Black Lives Matter signs in Portland than Black people.

Loud advocacy has been a hallmark of Portland life for decades, but unlike past protests over environmental policies or foreign wars, racism is a more complicated topic in Oregon, one that is intertwined with demographics and the states legacy of some of the most brutal anti-Black laws in the nation.

During 56 straight nights of protests here, throngs of largely white protesters have raised their fists in the air and chanted, This is not a riot, its a revolution. They have thrown water bottles at the federal courthouse, tried to pry off the plywood that protects the entrance and engaged in running battles with police officers through clouds of tear gas. In recent nights, the number of protesters has swollen into the thousands.

Damany Igw, 43, a bath products salesman who is Black and has taken part in dozens of the protests, says white crowds have shielded him from the police, all the while yelling Black power!

I feel the most protected that I ever have in my city, Mr. Igw said during a Wednesday night protest that lasted well into Thursday morning. White people cant understand what weve been through completely, but they are trying to empathize. Thats a beginning.

Of the 35 cities in the United States with populations larger than 500,000, Portland is the whitest, according to census data, with 71 percent of residents categorized as non-Latino whites.

Oregons relative homogeneity the state is three-quarters white compared with neighboring California, where white people make up 37 percent of the population was not accidental. The state was founded on principles of white supremacy. A 19th-century lash law called for whipping any Black person found in the state. In the early part of the 20th century Oregons Legislature was dominated by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Today the average income level for Black families in Portland is nearly half that of white residents, and police shootings of Black residents are disproportionate to their 6 percent share of the population. Three years ago, two good Samaritans were fatally stabbed while trying to stop a man from shouting slurs at two African-American women on a commuter train, one of whom was wearing Muslim dress.

Really there are two Portlands that exist, said Walidah Imarisha, a scholar of Black history in Oregon. Theres white Portland and Portland of color.

The differences, she said, cover almost every aspect of life. Theres massive racial disparities around wealth, health care, schools and criminal legal systems that white Portlanders just dont understand.

Yet on the streets this week in Portland there was optimism among Black protest leaders who generally spoke admiringly of the large white crowds, which were reinvigorated last week after clashes with federal riot police officers who are protecting a U.S. courthouse and other buildings.

Xavier Warner, a Black protest organizer, called the predominance of white protesters a beautiful thing that speaks to the progressive ethos in the city.

Teal Lindseth, another Black organizer, said she saw the irony in predominantly white Portland having among the longest continuous protests stemming from the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. But she said she was thankful for the strength in numbers. They hurt us less when there are more people, she said.

The role of white protesters has some detractors in the Black community.

In an op-ed published Thursday in The Washington Post, the Rev. E.D. Mondain, the president of the Portland branch of the N.A.A.C.P., called the protests a spectacle that distracted attention from the Black Lives Matter movement.

Are they really furthering the cause of justice, or is this another example of white co-optation? he wrote.

But in a measure of the divided opinion on this question, Mr. Mondains predecessor at the N.A.A.C.P., Jo Ann Hardesty, a city commissioner, rejected his criticism.

Theres a lot of new, aware folks who have joined into the battle for Black lives, she said during a news conference on Thursday.

Ms. Hardesty, who took office in 2019 as the first African-American woman on the Portland City Council, said the protests were serving the dual purposes of fighting racial injustice and rejecting the presence of federal agents sent to the city by the Trump administration.

Both protest goals were important, she said. And one is not any more important than the other.

Joe Lowndes, an expert on right-wing politics and race at the University of Oregon, said the protests reflected an intertwining of interests in recent years between racial justice advocates and the largely white anti-fascist movement. Both are deeply distrustful of the police and want police powers and budgets curtailed. The presence of far-right groups in Oregon, emboldened during the Trump administration, has also brought anti-racists and anti-fascists into closer alignment, he said.

Speeches and chants at the protests have touched on the legacy of slavery and the stripping of lands from Native Americans. From a historical perspective, the sight of hundreds of white protesters chanting one of that movements most popular refrains Stolen lands and stolen people can be jarring.

As the destination of the Lewis and Clark expeditions, Oregon once symbolized the conquest of the American West and the subjugation of Native peoples.

Some white protesters said it was this white supremacist legacy that helped spur them into the streets.

Bringing that history to light is definitely a motivating factor, said Liza Lopetrone, a veterinary nurse who joined the Wall of Moms protest this week that consisted mostly of white women locking arms in the face of the federal agents. Oregon has an extremely racist history. Im not from here but I take responsibility for it now.

Another woman at the protest, Julie Liggins, had a more immediate connection to prejudice and racism in Portland. She is white and her husband of three decades, Reginald, is Black.

During the years he drove his car to work, Mr. Liggins said, he was pulled over by Portland police multiple times without cause. He said he switched to riding the bus. But two years ago when Mr. Liggins, who is 60, ran to catch a bus, the police pulled it over after misidentifying him for a robbery suspect in his 20s.

Mr. Liggins said he was encouraged by the protests even if he wished the reckoning over race in America had occurred earlier. And he loves his life in Portland.

You can literally go days without seeing people that look like you, he said. But I find Portland to be a very progressive city despite its racist past. I can honestly say that as an interracial couple we havent had any problems here.

Mr. Fasoranti, the chemist, says he has been impressed with the awareness of racial issues in Portland and described the current round of protests as something that feels genuine.

He says he feels welcome in the city and was intrigued soon after he arrived when a white motorist pulled over to the sidewalk and asked if he needed a ride. He has been invited to conversations about gentrification and the displacement of Black residents.

There are less of these conversations in New York or New Jersey, where I used to live, he said.

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Why Portland, Among the Whitest U.S. Cities, Embraced Black Lives Matter - The New York Times

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.Businesses across Arkansas are struggling to stay open amid the pandemic and for the owner of one in downtown Little Rock, its even more difficult while paying to fix what others destroyed.

Paula Dempsey, the owner of Dempsey Bakery, says when she showed up to the shop on Sunday, she found messages spray-painted all over her building.

It just makes you sick, said Dempsey.

The spray painted messages read, No justice, No peace,F*** copsand Black lives Matter.

Dempsey says this isnt the first time this has happened. She says her building was spray-painted in May following the George Floyd protests.

I was just upset. My husband was really upset because of the vulgarity on the wall, recalled Dempsey.

Dempsey said she thought this was a one-time deal and was shocked to see it had happened again this week.

Five or ten thousand dollars right now or anytime really that you werent counting on having to spend is devastating, said Dempsey.

Dempsey says she is all for people expressing their feelings, but not when it is at the expense of those already hurting from a pandemic.

To then have to deal with that as well Its hard to keep going, said Dempsey.

She says she wants the ones who keep writing messages on the wall to hear the message of her own.

This is not the way to go about this and violence and destruction of other peoples property is not acceptable. Its just not, said Dempsey.

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Downtown Little Rock business gets spray-painted with Black Lives Matter and expletives - KARK

As Variety reported, a record number of Black actors were nominated for Emmy this year taking 35 of the 102 possible slots, or 34.3%. That was a jump from last year, when Black actors made up 19.8% of the nominee pool, as well as an increase from 2018, when there were 27.7% Black actors nominated the previous highest percentage in the Academys history. Among those nominated: Billy Porter, Sterling K. Brown, Zendaya, Anthony Anderson, Don Cheadle, Issa Rae, Tracee Ellis Ross, Regina King, Jeremy Pope, Octavia Spencer and Kerry Washington. (King, Spencer and Washington all compete in the same category, Best Actress in a Limited Series; the other two nominees are Cate Blanchett and Shira Haas.)

"This year we are also bearing witness to one of the greatest fights for social justice in history, and it is our duty to use this medium for change," Frank Scherma, chairman and CEO of Television Academy, at the start of the live-streamed nominations on Tuesday. That is the power and responsibility of television not only delivering a multitude of services or a little escapism, but also amplifying the voices that must be heard and telling the stories that must be told. Because television, by its very nature, connects us all.

Of course, inclusion only goes so far.

One of the glaring omissions in this year's nominations was Pose, which failed to repeat as a Best Drama nominee, and garnered only one acting nod Billy Porter, for Best Actor, the award he won last year, becoming the first openly gay Black actor to do so. Left out was the entire rest of the cast, including several of the supporting actors who are trans. Emmy voters also failed to recognize Janet Mock, the barrier-breaking trans director who executive produces Pose. (The show did receive nominations for makeup, hairstyling and costume design.)

On Tuesday morning, Pose stars Indya Moore and Angelica Ross responded to the snubs on social media.

Moore, who plays Angel, took to Twitter, posting, I cNt tell nobody I deserve their sht. I didn't invent the academy or any of the award shows. If they think my work is unworthy Chile that's just that. In a follow-up tweet she added, Imagine if we depended on cis ppl to validate anything about us. (Responded one fan: Watching you on Pose made me cry... made me laugh.. made me think about life in the LGBTQ+ community. Your ability to convey emotions and portray such a powerful character speaks volumes about you and your ability to act. Needless to say, I believe you deserved a nomination.)

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The 2020 Emmys, 'Watchmen' and Black Lives Matter - Vogue

BEVERLY The original plan was to march from Beverly to Marblehead to protest the stealing of Black Lives Matter flags in those two communities. The threat of thunderstorms nixed that idea, but about 75 people still found a way to get their point across on Tuesday.

Holding signs and chanting Black Lives Matter, the crowd gathered in the heat for nearly two hours during a rally outside Beverly City Hall as several speakers implored North Shore residents to support the growing movement for racial justice.

We came here to send a message here on the North Shore that racism, that white supremacism, that bigotry will no longer be accepted nor ignored here on the North Shore, said the Rev. Andre Bennett, the main speaker at the event. We will no longer be complicit here on the North Shore. Beverly, we refuse to be silenced.

Organizers had intended to stage a seven-mile march from Beverly City Hall to the Unitarian Universalist Church in Marblehead to show solidarity in wake of recent acts of thefts and vandalism to Black Lives Matter banners on the North Shore. Instead, the event remained at Beverly City Hall, where six speakers took turns addressing the crowd.

Several of the speakers pointed out inequities in the country regarding the treatment of Black people, from incidences of police brutality to disparities in income between Black and white people.Salem resident Hawa Hamidou, a student organizer from Solidarity North Shore, said the North Shore is an area segregated by race.

White communities and tucked away in quiet streets while BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) communities are cramped, over-policed and stereotyped as a ghetto and dangerous, she said.

Beverly resident Awa Diop, who teaches middle school, said she was not an activist but felt compelled to speak at the rally.

I am an introvert, Diop told the crowd. I take no pleasure speaking publicly. I seek no attention. I seek no special treatment. But today, this introvert had to roar.

Diop said her students have taught her to celebrate and affirm each others humanity.

When you say Black lives matter, you affirm my humanity, she said. When you affirm my humanity, you affirm your humanity.

Naisha Tatis, a Beverly High School student who organized a Black Lives Rally march in Beverly in June, urged people to go out and vote.

I know its a scary time. I know were in the middle of a pandemic, Tatis said. But I dont want to live through another four years of this. So lets make a change.

As the rally progressed, two men carrying Police Lives Matter flags yelled at the speakers and tried to interrupt them. At one point, Bennett called for a police officer as one of the men moved closer to the speakers. An officer spoke to the man, who then moved back to the sidewalk.

Bennett - a Peabody resident, youth minister at Zion Baptist Church in Lynn, and president of the board of the Essex County Community Organization - said he has been trying to harness the energy of young people across the North Shore to stage rallies. He said he has taken part in rallies in Peabody, Salem, Saugus and Boston over the last two weeks, and more than I can count over the last two months.

Theres definitely movement happening across the Commonwealth, Bennett said. People are hungry for change and to see the success of the movement. People are very cognizant that history will record us one way or the other, and the vast majority of people want to be on the right side of history.

Bennett said the crowd was smaller than at other rallies on the North Shore, but he attributed that to the heat and the threat of thunderstorms. The march from Beverly to Marblehead has been rescheduled for next Friday starting at 4 p.m. at Beverly City Hall.

Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535 or pleighton@salemnews.com.

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March postponed, but Black Lives Matter rally goes on - The Salem News

Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and the ACLU of Washington are asking a federal judge to hold the city of Seattle in contempt of court, pointing to police use-of-force during last weekend's protest against racial injustice.

The Black Lives Matter-ACLU complaint alleges police violated a preliminary injunction by indiscriminately using pepper spray, blast balls and other crowd control measures against people who were not involved in violence, and by targeting legal observers and journalists.

U.S. District Judge Richard Jones has given the city until noon on Wednesday, July 29 to file a response to the complaint. The city must explain why it shouldn't be held in contempt of a preliminary injunction Jones issued in June, barring the use of crowd control measures against people protesting peacefully. That was after police used tear gas and other weapons at multiple protests.

But this past Saturday, officers again used pepper spray and blast balls on protesters in Capitol Hill. A legal observer told KUOW that she saw the weapons employed against people who were not being violent.

A spokesperson for Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes said, Well review the claims, investigate the assertions, and respond accordingly.

The Black Lives Matter-ACLU complaints lists several statements from people who said they were not engaged in violence, yet were hit or injured by police, without warning.

The Seattle Police Department said in statements this weekend that some people in the crowd threw fireworks and other projectiles at them and that nearly 60 officers were injured.

But Annika Carlsten, a public defender in Snohomish County who acted as a legal observer with the National Lawyers Guild for Saturdays protest, said some of the officers injuries may have been caused by their own blast balls.

You can see in the videos, it's the explosives that they're throwing at the crowd that is bouncing back at them, Carlsten told KUOW. I saw several officers drop explosives onto them themselves as they're doing things.

She said the police actions escalated the tensions, and that officers responding to the actions of a few in the crowd wound up using pepper spray and other weapons on people who were protesting peacefully. Carlsten said she was hit by a blast ball in the leg.

Dozens of people were arrested in the clashes Saturday. Construction trailers at the site of the new youth jail were burned, and windows were broken at businesses and the East Precinct building.

In a separate action last week, another federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against a Seattle City Council ordinance that would have gone further than Jones order.

Judge James Robart said the ordinance, which would have gone into effect over the weekend, may interfere with the federal consent decree that governs police use of force in Seattle. He left open that either side could prevail in the case.

In response to the Black Lives Matter-ACLU complaint, Judge Jones gave the city until noon Wednesday to respond.

Read the Black Lives Matter-ACLU complaint below:

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Black Lives Matter, ACLU say Seattle Police violated court order with violence in protests - KUOW News and Information

Thank God black lives matter. Thank God black lives matter in the United States.

Thank God we have a mainstream American culture that is not just tolerating a multi-racial society but is accepting it and thriving in it; hence, the increasing blending of races in our country is to be honored, promoted and preached: from many, one: e pluribus unum.

Thank God immigrants the world over have recognized Americas racial tolerance and opportunities for prosperity by voting with their feet and seeking entrance to this good country, the least racist nation in our world. Thank God today America welcomes more immigrants than any other nation on Earth. These good immigrant folk know they can enter this nation and are proud that they can become Americans. We, as a nation, are, too.

Thank God for those who have come forward locally, and peacefully, to rally and say that black lives matter. And having vigorously asserted this principle these good folk are implying a corollary principle: any moral policy or need that promotes the well-being of our black citizens must be supported. If you query inner-city black law-abiding citizens what their central need is, safety is number one. Why? Because black lives matter! Query them further as to what factor provides that safety and they will tell you, having more police presence. More police, better policing, yields an increased feeling of safety for law-abiding inner city citizens. Black lives matter!

But, wait. Arent police supposed to be a danger to the black community? Arent black citizens literally risking their lives whenever they leave their homes due to police targeting?

Race activists tell us its open-season on blacks.

However, utilizing verifiable data from the Washington Post (as presented by Heather MacDonald in the June 2, 2020, edition of the WSJ), proves that the lives of law-abiding black citizens are clearly not under threat by police. Deaths at the hands of police are a response to criminal and life-threatening behaviors. Out of a population of 330 million people and 375 million annual police contacts with the public, the following deadly outcomes resulted in 2019:

1,004 suspects were killed by police (reacting to a threat of violence).

370 of these deaths were white suspects (All were armed, save 19.)

235 of these deaths were black suspects. (All were armed, save 9.)

The message for all races in America is that police are no threat to you, at all, if you choose to obey the law. Put another way: dont commit crimes, and dont threaten police when confronted as a suspect and you will remain eminently safe when in contact with the police. The message to race activists is to stop slandering police, those whose mission is to carry out the true meaning of black lives matter: preserving black lives.

The recent terrible and needless police-caused death of Mr. George Floyd is a tragic and disturbing injustice. It is also an exceedingly uncommon police event. Though unseen on television nightly news, the murders of 7,407 black citizens (not by police) in 2018, with comparable numbers last year and this year, are tragic and unjust, too. These are exceedingly common events, and these people (even small children), because they are not police victims, remain nameless.

Because black lives matter, who will protect future at-risk black citizens? Who?

Not the mendacious race activists!

Alan Winslow is a resident of Seymour.

Originally posted here:

Letter: Thank God black lives matter in the United States - Seymour Tribune

From left, Nia White, Chelsea Miller, and Nialah Edari. Photo: Erin OBrien

Three weeks ago, Carlos had an internship in finance lined up for the summer and was planning to channel years of social activism, beginning in middle school, into a job in impact investing. But as protesters flooded the streets of New York, the 21-year-old Dartmouth student put his internship offer on hold and headed out to join them.

Many of the people who have led marches across the city during recent weeks have been even younger than Carlos. Some have not yet cast a ballot in an election and many have no activist experience at all. But now, they all have dedicated their lives to building and sustaining a movement that has already sparked monumental changes across the country. Here are just some of the young activists who have spurred thousands of New Yorkers into action.

Nia White leads a protest on Juneteenth. Photo: Erin OBrien

As they watched stories about looting and violence take over mainstream coverage of New Yorks first wave of protests following George Floyds killing by Minneapolis police, Nialah Edari and Chelsea Miller felt they had to find a way to counter the narrative and highlight the core goals of the movement. Within a day, the two friends, both Columbia University graduates, had organized a protest for May 31, marching from Washington Square Park to One Police Plaza, in honor of the 99th anniversary of the burning of Black Wall Street.

Building on the momentum of that first demonstration, they founded Freedom March NYC, a nonviolent-protest movement focused on reforming the criminal-justice system and mobilizing young people in the lead-up to the 2020 election.

Activism and community advocacy are not new to the trio: Miller was one of the youngest interns in the Obama White House, working on criminal-justice reform and urban economic opportunity; Edari was the Midwest regional director for the National Action Networks Youth Move program; and Nia White worked with the nonprofits WeBelieve and Black Womens Blueprint from a young age.

Nia grew up in Brooklyn and saw the effects of the very systems and policies Freedom March NYC is arguing against. Ive always been surrounded by violence either in the sense of seeing it around my neighborhood or violence in the sense of it being within my own block, she said. Police were inside of the schools, and my mother had to take us to schools that were 40 minutes to an hour away in order for us to get the best education.

Miller sees this moment, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, as ripe for further change.

We completely reimagine how we go to the grocery store, how we interact with family, how we go to school, how we go to work, she said of Americas pandemic response. Similarly, we need to reimagine what it looks like to navigate a system where we address racism as a pandemic and we learn to renavigate and restructure and reallocate resources to tackling this that starts with anti-racism.

Haniq. Photo: Erin OBrien

Ndeh and Haniq, who both asked to be identified by their first names, met on May 30 as they marched throughout Brooklyn, eventually finding themselves up front, leading fellow protesters. The day, they said, was remarkable, with hundreds of people walking through the borough for more than ten hours. But when police cracked down, protesters scattered, shattering the sense of solidarity.

The following day, Ndeh and Haniq joined with several other demonstratorsto form the Freedom Actualization Tribe, offering a space where activists could come together to share ideas. They decided candlelight vigils would best highlight the mournful, communal nature of the movement. Amid a weekend of violence and looting, they sat down in front of Barclays Center on the night of May 31 and invited passerby to come join them.

Our demonstrations are very focused on the idea of communalism. We sit in a circle. We light candles. We invite people to enter the circle to be a part of something that feels like a family, like a village, like a tribe, Ndeh said.

They came back, almost every evening, at 7 p.m. On the night of June 1, a group of demonstrators marched toward them on Atlantic Avenue, yelling at them and calling for violence. His voice never rising above conversational, Ndeh reasoned with the marchers and eventually convinced many of them to join the Tribe.

This was exactly what the group had hoped to accomplish: to bring the conversations that they were having among themselves to the streets and encourage demonstrators to consider different perspectives.

All the people we talk to, they come from so many different backgrounds, Haniq said. I feel like Ive learned more just from talking to people than I have in a lot of the years I spent in school.

Night by night, the vigils grew larger and a community cropped up in the space between the subway stop and the police barriers guarding the Barclays Centers doors. The pavement was decorated with chalk drawings, and drips of wax speckled the sidewalk. Local residents came to recognize members of the group, waving as they passed by. Sensei, a 9-year-old who has become friends with the Tribe, rode his skateboard around the space most of the day, helping them with supplies and logistics.

Members of the group say they do not want to prescribe goals for their organization, as that would be falling into old ways. I think we can agree that what we want to do is encourage evolution. And there is no way that you can define evolution, Haniq said. We see life as a big canvas. And we know that our lives will only contribute to that canvas, potentially in a very minuscule way. But we want everyone to realize that you can contribute, you should contribute, and you should be free to contribute.

Jzabelle. Photo: Erin OBrien

Demonstrators of all stripes have followed NYC Revolutionaries thousands of them. Megaphones in hand, shouting chants and doling out encouragement, the group runs marches like a well-oiled machine. Walking slowly, keeping media and bikes to the front of the crowd, the group often marches up Fifth Avenue (good acoustics) from Washington Square Park (great gathering place), stopping in Bryant Park (center of midtown Manhattan).

Those following the group might be surprised to learn it formed just a few weeks ago. After checking out a demonstration in Foley Square, Onni made a group chat with her friends Jzabelle and Leyla, who all asked not to be identified with their last names, and some other people shed met protesting. As the group picked up more members, its leaders decided to form NYC Revolutionaries. Now the organization which has a full-time staff of seven leads protests three times a week and has raised thousands of dollars for supplies and logistics.

Onni is a professional roller-skater, and Jzabelle recently graduated from college with a degree in fashion marketing. Both women grew up in New York and were primed for this movement by witnessing the violence and disenfranchisement experienced by communities of color throughout their childhoods. Jzabelle recalls encountering a protest over the death of Eric Garner at the hands of an NYPD officer while walking with her family in Manhattan in the summer of 2014. I remember thinking, Wow, this is so cool, she said, People in my generation are actually attempting to make a difference, like the people that we read about in history books.

Leyla is from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and moved to New York four years ago with her mother for a fresh start. Shes now studying applied social sciences at St. Johns University and plans to work with youth communities.Growing up, she felt her community was deprived of many of the resources afforded to wealthier neighborhoods in the area. She and her friends wanted to make music, but there was nowhere to record. They wanted to practice sports, but there were no facilities. Leyla herself wanted tutoring and places to study, but she didnt have access to those, either.

I kind of realized that if I want to see the change, I might as well try to make it myself, she said.

From left: Elon Reid, Ashanti Clarke, an unidentified protester, Nacala Spiegler-Frederick, Dequane Nealy, an unidentified protester, and Obrian Rosario at Borough Hall on June 8. Photo: Emmy Freedman

Scrolling through Instagram on Tuesday, June 2, Lucas Klugers eyes jumped from one black square to the next. Clearly, young people were willing to hop on a social-media trend, but how could they be held accountable for their support of Black Lives Matter in real life? Thinking of the youth leaders behind the climate-change walkouts, Lucas had an idea. Soon, he and a few fellow seniors at Brooklyn Technical High School had set up an Instagram page called @nycstudents4justice, announcing a march the following Monday from Fort Greene Park to Borough Hall.

One thing we definitely established when we were putting it together was that people who are non-POCs people in my position should take a step back and facilitate, Lucas said.

He reached out to several friends whom he thought could organize and lead the protest, including Ashanti Clarke. The morning of June 8, Clarke assembled bags filled with necessities a water bottle, a granola bar, gauze, and a slip of paper with a bail-fund number that she could hand out to protesters.

I see in the media a lot of these protests have turned out violent because of the cops antagonizing and stuff like that, and even peaceful protesters getting arrested, Clarke said. So I was nervous, especially because there were many Black teens present but luckily nothing of that sort happened and it turned out well.

In the early afternoon on June 8, students began to gather at Fort Greene Park holding signs and water bottles, grouped together with classmates that they hadnt seen in person in months, since the coronavirus pandemic moved classes online. More than 1,000 people of all ages showed up, including some teachers.

Dequane Nealy doesnt usually like big crowds, but watching hundreds of people file into the park ready to march for justice, he knew hed have to use his voice to help give people direction.

Having a lot of people looking directly at me listening to every word I say, its definitely nerve-wracking, Dequane said. But being in the moment and knowing that this was something I really wanted to fight for and believe in, it all kind of washed away.

Knowing that white and Asian students make up a large proportion of Brooklyn Techs population, Nacala Spiegler-Frederick thought it was important that she get involved with organizing the demonstration; she felt a protest for Black lives should be powered by Black students such as herself. Shes also mindful of ensuring that the entire spectrum of the Black community is represented in the broader Black Lives Matter movement.

Even though we can all recognize that George Floyd was Black and he was part of the Black community, he was a cisgender male, Spiegler-Frederick said. A lot of women and a lot of trans people and a lot of queer people that are being killed, unfortunately, by the police and by others theyre all hate crimes. I think people are limiting themselves and just thinking about race. There are so many intersections.

During the protest, a helicopter circled overhead snapping photos. When Elon Reid saw one of the shots hours later, she was shocked at how successful the group had been at mobilizing their peers.

I guess the trauma that comes with being born after 9/11 and having to live through Sandy Hook and just a lot of things that have happened makes you feel like your voice is not going to be heard by people in D.C., and people just dont care what you have to say thats obviously not true, Elon said.

Elon said she wants to warn fellow students about the importance of voting the upcoming presidential election and hopes more young people will move beyond the performative activism taking place on social media.

NYCStudents4Justice has continued organizing demonstrations, with its most recent event held on July 18. The group members all of whom are recent high-school graduates encouraged attendees to wear their caps and gowns or prom attire to pay tribute to the Black students, such as Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin, who were killed at the hands of police before they were able to graduate.

Yahshiyah Vines. Photo: Emmy Freedman

Treon Cort and Yahshiyah Vines both became activists at an early age: Corts older sister encouraged him to join her at a protest against school shootings in D.C. several years ago, and Vines began demonstrating after losing a loved one on July 4, 2016. The main reason why I feel so affected by this is because my cousin was killed by an off-duty police officer, so I felt the need to go out and protest and be out on the ground, Vines said.

Vines had received positive feedback after speaking at rallies in the past, so when people began protesting the killing of George Floyd, he and Cort decided to plan a demonstration of their own.

This younger generation is the one thats really gonna be affected by whats going on right now, so we were like, Lets show the world how the youth does it, Vines said.

The two friends set to work creating a poster that shed light on the funding discrepancies between the NYPD and city schools and called on others to join their march for unity and justice on June 6. It was shared by the Instagram page @justiceforgeorgenyc, which currently has more than 230,000 followers. On the day of the protest, they werent sure what to expect; 25,000 people showed up to Grand Army Plaza and marched over the Brooklyn Bridge.

Leading protesters through Brooklyn, Corey and Vines called on people to text a number that would send a message to lawmakers asking them to repeal 50-a, a statute that has shielded police misconduct records from public view for 44 years. Just three days later, New York lawmakers finally voted to repeal it. The young men say its repeal is one of their proudest moments, indicating that protests such as theirs can, in fact, have an impact.

Take action, be on the right side of history, Vines advised his friends, who are now organizing protests of their own. You want to tell your kids you were fighting for justice, you were fighting for equality, you were fighting to change the world.

Jace Valentine. Photo: Dulce Michelle Marquez

Jace Valentine started identifying as an activist when she was a sophomore at Brooklyns New Utrecht High School; after graduating in 2019, she continued to advocate on behalf of students and work to replace NYPD officers stationed in schools.

Instead of having law enforcement with guns on their hips, have a counselor whos there to support students when they see something is happening, Valentine said. Also [focus on] prevention, so that these things will never escalate to this point where there will need to be a fight or some form of aggression.

Now shes making sure her message on education equity is heard at protests. Shes been speaking regularly at public events, including a rally in Washington Square Park on June 6 that attracted 15,000 people. She also offers support to younger people who may be speaking before a large crowd for the first time.

I just want to ensure that this is not just a hashtag that fades off in a few weeks, Valentine said. I remember when it was Trayvon Martin, it was such a big movement, and then after it sort of died down. I want to ensure that we keep the pressure on and keep pushing.

Carlos. Photo: Erin OBrien

Carlos, a 21-year-old Dartmouth student who asked to be identified by his first name, finished his last final on Monday, June 1, as he was simultaneously coordinating rallies in New York. Teaming with other organizers, he began to wonder how established groups could be integrated into the movement.

How can we pull in the nonprofits and the organizations in the community that have been doing work in housing for years? Carlos said. How can we pull in folks that have been doing food insecurity for years? And how can we bring all of these different groups together to really mobilize as one?

In the past three weeks, Carlos and his collaborators (the network remains intentionally unnamed) have organized marches, helped demonstrators get supplies, publicized events, and done what they can to keep the marches they attend safe and orderly. They encourage disobedience, but not violence.

While speaking at marches, Carlos will often ask demonstrators to turn to one another and acknowledge those around them. This interconnectedness, he argues, is the strength of the movement, and what will ensure its continuity.

The core belief that black lives matter, and of this movement its an inherent belief in each other. Its an inherent belief that the world can and must be better. And thats so powerful, he said. Its so hard to hold on to this belief, despite routinely being beaten and killed and murdered and lynched. As youre protesting police brutality, you experience more of it, and you still continue to have this faith and conviction that the world can be better for everyone.

Update: A previous version of this piece said Carlos declined his internship offer. After several weeks of protesting, he decided to start his summer internship after all, concluding that change is also needed in other environments, like the workplace.

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Meet the Young Activists Leading New Yorks Black Lives Matter Protests - New York Magazine

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich continues to voice his opinions on the Black Lives Matter movement while at the NBA bubble in Orlando.

In a virtual interview with reporters on Saturday, Popovich, who is preparing for the league's upcoming restart, was asked by KENS 5 reporter Tom Petrini what the social justice movement means to him.

"It's no different for me than it is to anybody else who cares about justice and who can be empathetic to the fact that justice has been denied to a group of people for far too long. And enough is enough," he said. "Everybody's tired of it, especially the group that has been degraded and savaged for so long. People who don't understand Black Lives Matter or are offended by it are just ignorant."

READ ALSO: I dont want to die: Gregg Popovich explains why he still wears a mask in the NBA bubble

Popovich has expressed many times that he and other coaches and players will continue to use the re-launch as a chance to shine a light on social injustices. Last week, he said on TNT's "The Arena" that everyone at the bubble has a responsibility to keep the conversation going.

"It's a necessity considering what's going on in our country and hopefully the realization by many people mostly white who begin to understand what it's been like for the black population," he said on TNT. "... It's an opportunity to make sure this momentum does not stop."

In June, Popovich also ripped President Donald Trump for what he says was his lack of national leadership in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died while in police custody. He was also among the more than 1,400 athletes, coaches and executives who signed a letter in June urging Congress to pass a bill to end qualified immunity, which shields police from lawsuits over their conduct.

RELATED: Former Spur reveals the day that Popovich said the team almost replaced him

The Spurs restart the regular season Friday in Orlando against the Sacramento Kings.

Priscilla Aguirre is a general assignment reporter for MySA.com | priscilla.aguirre@express-news.net | @CillaAguirre

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Popovich continues to be vocal about Black Lives Matter, says anyone offended by it is just ignorant - San Antonio Express-News

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Before protests demanding equality for Black people swept across the country, Aba Amoah was finishing her criminology degree, practicing Mandarin and planning her next trip abroad.

Now, the 22-year-old is at the vanguard of the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.K., engaging with parliamentarians and organising protests from her London home.

'Women know how it feels to be marginalised. We are doubly oppressed - we have our skin colour, and the patriarchy,' she says.

KENZO TRIBOUILLARDGetty Images

Less than two months ago, she co-founded Justice For Black Lives, one of the dozen or so anti-racism groups to have mushroomed in recent weeks.

Across the country, pockets of resistance have been women-led, whether taking to the streets or using their government positions to seize upon the moment. Long marginalised and sidelined - they earn the least compared to all other groups while being overrepresented in single-parent households - they are uniquely situated to drive change.

Their uprising has turned the spotlight on a country both in denial about its colonial past and the endemic prejudice of the present.

'Black women are coming into their own across the world,' says Imarn Ayton, a 29-year-old childrens drama teacher and activist who has emerged as one of the movements figureheads. 'Strong Black women are demonised, were seen as having attitude. But were feeling more confident now,' she says, before relaying, with an almost disarming eloquence, proposals on how to reform the judicial, health and education systems.

The killing of George Floyd galvanised Ayton to action after a lifetime of experiencing what she describes as 'a very British combination of covert and overt racism.'

Ira L. Black - CorbisGetty Images

Adding urgency to the calls for change is the coronavirus pandemic, which is taking a heavier toll on people of colour, especially women, according to the Fawcett Society. A recent survey by the womens charity shows how the disease has laid bare a mixture of precarious work arrangements and undetected health conditions among minority women in recent months.

The protests come after a decade of austerity policies at the hands of a Conservative government whose role in the 2018 Windrush scandal, which wrongly targeted and even deported Caribbean immigrants, left many people in their communities pained and disillusioned.

Black women suffer disproportionately: mental ill-health is most prominent among them, and they are five times more likely to die in childbirth compared to white women (Asian women are twice as likely to die).

British Black women have pointed to Meghan Markles harassment by the media, including having her newborn son compared to a monkey by a BBC presenter, and her departure from royal life at the start of the year as public confirmation of the systemic racism running through society.

Black women have been at the front of a flurry of political action. In London, a university students petition to make colonial history part of the compulsory curriculum led to an ongoing debate within government. After protesters toppled and dumped the statue of slave owner Edward Colston into the river in Bristol, an artist temporarily erected a life-size steel monument of demonstrator Jen Reid, who climbed atop the plinth in his place, her right fist raised and clenched. And shortly after Floyds death in U.S. police custody, a cohort of Black female MPs changed their Twitter handles to include 'I cant breathe,' the final words uttered by the Black father as he pleaded for air when a white officer pinned him down at his neck.

Hollie AdamsGetty Images

'We still have a long way to go but I am hopeful that we are on the cusp of change, systemic change,' says MP Dawn Butler, the second Black woman to ever enter parliament.

Earlier this month, Butler says she was forced to close her constituency office, citing how the torrent of threats and abuse she regularly faces has shot up 'exponentially' since supporting Black Lives Matter. Even then, she still believes that the country is forging a new path. 'For the first time, were seeing generations fighting together,' Butler says. 'Now is the time when people are beginning to listen, actively listen, and then its time for action.'

Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded to the wave of protests by establishing a new commission to investigate racial inequalities in the U.K., but Labour politicians and activists were quick to condemn the bodys head, adviser Munira Mirza, who three years ago penned an article describing institutional racism as 'a perception more than a reality.'

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Ayton says men may be staying away from the limelight due to their 'more complicated relationship' with the police: under the controversial stop and search law, law enforcement have excessively targeted young men from Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities.

'If we dont engage, the passion people feel will turn into anger,' says MP Abena Oppong-Asare, who created the Twitter campaign. 'Its easy to make the case for Black women. We have so many barriers to overcome.'

Amie Ferris-Rotman is a contributing editor with The Fuller Project, a global nonprofit newsroom reporting on issues that impact women.

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Why Women Are The Vanguard Of The Black Lives Matter Movement - elle.com

Following high-profile police killings of black men in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis, fatal attacks on officers by anti-police gunmen and more recently protests in North Carolina after the police shooting of Keith Scott, a black man the United States is being forced to confront its deep-rooted problems with race and inequality.

A strong narrative is emerging from these tragedies of racially motivated targeting of black Americans by the police force. It is backed up by a new report on the city of Baltimore by the Department of Justice, which has found that black residents of low-income neighbourhoods are more likely to be stopped and searched by police officers, even if white residents are statistically more likely to be caught carrying guns and drugs.

In the background, a campaign called Black Lives Matter celebrated its third anniversary. The movement, perhaps best known by its hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, grew in protest against police killings of black people in the United States. It has now crossed the Atlantic, with events and rallies held in the United Kingdom.

What is Black Lives Matter?

The movement was born in 2013, after the man who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, was cleared of his murder. A Californian activist, Alicia Garza, responded to the jurys decision on Facebook with a post that ended: Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter. The hashtag was born, and continued to grow in prominence with each new incident and protest.

The formal organization that sprung from the protests started with the goal of highlighting the disproportionate number of incidences in which a police officer killed a member of the black community. But it soon gained international recognition, after the death of Michael Brown in Missouri a year later.

Black Lives Matter now describes itself as a chapter-based national organization working for the validity of black life. It has developed to include the issues of black women and LGBT communities, undocumented black people and black people with disabilities.

According to this article in the Washington Post, 1,502 people have been shot and killed by on-duty police officers since the beginning of 2015. A cursory glance at the numbers reveals nothing to indicate racial bias: 732 of the victims were white and 381 were black (382 were of another race).

In fact, on the surface, these figures suggest its more likely for a white person to be shot by a police officer than a black person. But proportionally speaking, this isnt the case.

Almost half of the victims of police shootings in the US are white, but then, white people make up 62% of the American population. Black people, on the other hand, make up only 13% of the US population yet 24% of all the people killed by the police are black.

Furthermore, 32% of these black victims were unarmed when they were killed. Thats twice the number of unarmed white people to die at the hands of the police.

After adjusting for population percentage, this is the picture: black Americans are two and a half times more likely than white Americans to be shot and killed by police officers.

However, we have to count for distortion of the data, for various reasons. Firstly, it is collected through the voluntary collaboration of police departments with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, so not the full picture. Also, police departments dont always identify a shooting if an officer has been involved. Additionally, police-involved shootings that are under investigation are only counted once the investigation has concluded, so many recent incidents are not being counted.

Dont other lives matter too?

The slogan Black Lives Matter, created as a riposte to the institutional racism that lingers on inside the American justice system, has met with its own controversy. Objectors have taken it to mean black lives matter more. The All Lives Matter campaign, for instance, is one among several groups that have sprung up to argue that every human life, not just those of black people, should be given equal consideration.

In the wake of the mass shooting of five police officers in Dallas in July, a new campaign has taken root. Blue Lives Matter, a national organization made up of police officers and their supporters, places the blame for what they see as a war on cops squarely at the feet of the BLM movement and the Obama administration.

But while the data tells a more positive story that the average number of police officers intentionally killed each year has in fact fallen to its lowest level during Barack Obama's presidency hate crime is still a daily reality in the US, and many feel that state-wide policies to curb it should be extended beyond the black community to include the police themselves. Police officers are a minority group, too, former police officer Randy Sutton, a spokesperson for the Blue Lives Matter campaign has been quoted as saying.

Back in Dallas, Chief of Police David Brown has been praised for his efforts to increase transparency and community-friendly policing. He has been credited with a reduction in police-related shootings and fewer complaints about the use of force by police officers.

In 2015, the Black Lives Matter movement launched Campaign Zero, a group lobbying for changes to policies and laws on federal, state and local levels.

"We must end police violence so we can live and feel safe in this country," the group writes on the Vision Zero website. "We can live in a world where the police don't kill people by limiting police interventions, improving community interactions and ensuring accountability."

What next for Black Lives Matter?

So far, the media has focused on the campaigns events and protests on the street, but Black Lives Matter has also been involved in campaigning to change legislation.

As recently as August this year, the movement released more than 40 policy recommendations, including the demilitarization of law enforcement, reparation laws, the unionization of unregulated industries and the decriminalization of drugs.

Its efforts prior to that have had some success. One example is the creation of a civilian oversight board in St Louis City, which reviews and investigates citizens complaints and allegations of misconduct against the police.

Building on the legacy of the civil rights and LGBT movements, Black Lives Matter has created a new mechanism for confronting racial inequality. The movement also draws on feminist theories of intersectionality, which call for a unified response to issues of race, class, gender, sexuality and nationality.

Have you read?Barack Obama: standout moments from his presidency5 things to know about the US election

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The Black Lives Matter movement explained | World Economic ...

Black Lives Matter has delivered a ten-point manifesto of what they want. I have to say, it isnt as bad as I expected. In fact, some of it makes a lot of sense. For example, they ask for the end of broken windows policing, the end of for-profit policing practices such as civil asset forfeiture as well and the end of the police use of military equipment.

What I am, however, surprised about is that the list doesnt at all mention ending the failed Drug War even though many of their demands are to end policies (like the ones mentioned above) that are by-products of the Drug War. It is even more surprising since manyhave noted how the black community suffers disproportionately from the policy.

I find this essay from John McWhorter extremely compelling and moving about the disastrous results the Drug War has had on Black families. Far from finding excuses for the decisions made by those who choose employment in the illegal drug market rather than lower-paying jobs in the legal labor market due to the incentives created by the Drug War, McWhorter explains the consequences and the vicious cycle that follows. He writes:

The War on Drugs destroys black families. It has become a norm for black children to grow up in single-parent homes, their fathers away in prison for long spells and barely knowing them. In poor and working-class black America, a man and a woman raising their children together is, of all things, an unusual sight. The War on Drugs plays a large part in this. It must stop.

I know this is a controversial issue among conservatives, even though acknowledging that the Drug War has failed and needs to be scaled back is different from condoning the use of drugs.National Review even called for legalization of Marijuana back in 1996, long before the New York Times did in 2014.

That being said, no matter what conservatives think about the policy, it remains strange that it doesnt appear on the BLMs list of demands.

Less surprising, but important, is a failure to ask for the end of minimum-wage policies. Over at Cafe Hayek, Don Boudreaux posted a great discussion between George Mason Universitys Walter Williams and the Hoover Institutions Thomas Sowell on, as Boudreaux writes, the minimum wage governments practice of ordering low-skilled workers to remain unemployed if, and for however long as, those workers are unable to persuade or entice employers to hire them at wages at least as high as the wage that government dictates. As Williams says during the interview:

The minimum-wage law has been, and continues to be, one of the most effective tools in the arsenal of racists everywhere around the world.

It is worth also reading the article published a few months ago over at the TNR about the racist origins of the minimum-wage laws. While the intentions behind the law have changed dramatically, it doesnt mean that the policy has become low-income-worker friendly. As we know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Even less surprising is the absence on the BLMs list of the need to reform Social Security. As I have mentioned before Social Security redistributes money from blacks and other minorities to white people. You would think that considering the stakes, BLM would put it on their list.

All this goes to say that while the list wasnt as bad as I expected, it fails to address important policy changes that would really make a difference.

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Black Lives Matter -- Manifesto in Ten Points | National ...

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SLIDESHOW: Black Lives Matter Rally takes place at the Beverly City Hall - The Salem News

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich continues to voice his opinions on the Black Lives Matter movement while at the NBA bubble in Orlando.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich continues to voice his opinions on the Black Lives Matter movement while at the NBA bubble in Orlando.

Photo: Jeff Chiu /Associated Press

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich continues to voice his opinions on the Black Lives Matter movement while at the NBA bubble in Orlando.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich continues to voice his opinions on the Black Lives Matter movement while at the NBA bubble in Orlando.

Popovich continues to be vocal about Black Lives Matter, says anyone offended by it is just ignorant

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich continues to voice his opinions on the Black Lives Matter movement while at the NBA bubble in Orlando.

In a virtual interview with reporters on Saturday, Popovich, who is preparing for the league's upcoming restart, was asked by KENS 5 reporter Tom Petrini what the social justice movement means to him.

"It's no different for me than it is to anybody else who cares about justice and who can be empathetic to the fact that justice has been denied to a group of people for far too long. And enough is enough," he said. "Everybody's tired of it, especially the group that has been degraded and savaged for so long. People who don't understand Black Lives Matter or are offended by it are just ignorant."

READ ALSO: I dont want to die: Gregg Popovich explains why he still wears a mask in the NBA bubble

Popovich has expressed many times that he and other coaches and players will continue to use the re-launch as a chance to shine a light on social injustices. Last week, he said on TNT's "The Arena" that everyone at the bubble has a responsibility to keep the conversation going.

"It's a necessity considering what's going on in our country and hopefully the realization by many people mostly white who begin to understand what it's been like for the black population," he said on TNT. "... It's an opportunity to make sure this momentum does not stop."

In June, Popovich also ripped President Donald Trump for what he says was his lack of national leadership in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died while in police custody. He was also among the more than 1,400 athletes, coaches and executives who signed a letter in June urging Congress to pass a bill to end qualified immunity, which shields police from lawsuits over their conduct.

RELATED: Former Spur reveals the day that Popovich said the team almost replaced him

The Spurs restart the regular season Friday in Orlando against the Sacramento Kings.

Priscilla Aguirre is a general assignment reporter for MySA.com | priscilla.aguirre@express-news.net | @CillaAguirre

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Popovich continues to be vocal about Black Lives Matter, says anyone offended by it is just ignorant - mySA

The convergence of art and politics has become even more prevalent as of late. Quite literally, an intersection in Tampa now bears a mural in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, featuring the original designs of Tampa-based Black artists.

The mural was painted on June 27 at E Cass Street and Jefferson Street as part of Mayor Jane Castors Art on the Block initiative, in which artists painted five separate intersection murals throughout the city on the theme of unity an inclusiveness.

Artists Cam Parker, Cecilia Lueza, Anthony Freese and James Vann were asked to paint the other four intersection murals with a team of volunteers.

The effort to get the Black Lives Matter-inspired mural painted was more complex. It wasnt originally planned to be part of the Art on the Block Mural Day.

But on June 12, historian Gloria Jean Royster sent an email to the city requesting a Black Lives Matter mural to be painted downtown.

Copied on that email were Tony Krol and Michelle Sawyer, husband and wife artists who paint together as Illsol, have a Tampa gallery called Mergeculture and are the founders of Art UP, an art placement and programming organization. They have worked with the city and county on may occasions, so they were sought out to help gather artists for the project.

Coincidentally, a week before, Art UP created a new curation board of Black artists called New Roots Collective in an effort to bring more diversity into public art.

The pieces were falling into place to have a mural painted by Black artists. Rather than the letters spelling out the words, the concept was to have artists create their own designs that would make up one large mural in the intersection.

But there were hiccups along the way. Although they emailed the mayors office requesting to make the mural, Krol said they waited for approval and for a location before they could pull some artists together. He credits Royster and Tim Bennett, outreach coordinator of the Childrens Board of Hillsborough County, for helping move the email up the chain and organizing the mural.

Approval didnt come until the Wednesday before Mural Day. Krol scrambled to get some artists together, many from the New Roots Collective, which is led by Melvin Halsey and Reece Fernando Moore, who each came up with their designs on the fly.

On the Friday before Mural Day, Krol got word that a group of volunteers would be coming on Mural Day to paint the phrase Black Lives Matter near the intersection mural. On Saturday, Krol, Sawyer and another artist friend painted the outline for the letters that were filled in by volunteers, who also helped paint the intersection murals and included children and Mayor Castor.

The day spent painting the intersection mural was full of joy. Krol called the way it came together amazing.

This opened the door for many new Black artists in our community to have their voices heard for public art projects, he said.

The participating artists were Melvin Halsey, Reece Fernando Moore, Ron Simmons (Ron S. Dot), Cody Iffla (Jitt Brodie), Mark Anthony Little, Meclina Priestly, Tyrone Beyobe (Beyo), Briauna Walker, Melissa Koby and Jason Henson (Convo Unedited).

The Times caught up with several of those artists at the mural. Heres what they said about their works and the experience.

Cody Iffla, known as Jitt Brodie (@jittbrodie), painted Angela Davis on his section of the mural.

She was a very important, instrumental Black voice in the community. Shes one of the last original members of the Black Panther Party, she did a lot to liberate and help the Black community and the civil rights movement, he said. I wanted to show her and the message that she spoke on, which was if you liberate the mind youll be able to liberate society, which I believe is completely true. Because racism is a mental state.

Melvin Halsey Jr. (@lang.stn) painted a tribal mask after he scrapped his original plan after suffering heat exhaustion. He built on the concept that his friend, Reece Fernando Moore, has that our ancestors are watching. He put his artistic stamp on an African-style mask.

Meclina Priestly (@meclinaart) is a micrography artist who creates portraiture comprised of tiny calligraphy. Her intuitive piece of the mural incorporates a little bit of micrography, but has leaves that say living kindness and healing, compassion and growing into a place of deeper healing. She had the five or six people helping her paint to sign it because its about community and relationships.

Its important for people to tie in their experience and then go, I was part of something really big.

Ron Simmons (@ronsdot) a fourth-generation Tampa native, knows the historical significance of the neighborhood where the mural is located. It was a thriving Black area, until in 1967, when after the killing of a Black teenager by the police, riots broke out.

He painted a young boy in a gas mask. He uses it as a sign of resilience that kids wear to keep out the negative influences that could alter their childhoods and their progression as kids.

The phrase I Am a Man is painted there, a quote referencing a 1968 sanitation protest in Memphis. Workers were mistreated, their equipment was faulty and so they began protesting and were eventually joined by Dr, Martin Luther King Jr.

Melissa Koby (@mkoby_) always focuses on women in her artwork. So it was only natural for her to recreate on of her prints depicting a Black woman, titled Keep Your Head Up. She says she tries to represent everyone but her point of view is that of a Black woman.

I know my own experiences that every single day I dont know if Im going to be crying, laughing or totally devastated at something that triggers me. My platform is to encourage everyone, so this is a letter to my fellow women. If youre struggling, if youre going through the day with a heavy heart, but youre forced to look normal for everyone elses comfort, I hear you and understand you, but just keep your head up.

Jason Henson, goes by Convo Unedited (@convounedited). He also depicted a tribal mask. He said it felt good to be part of the project and said that he believes that making art in response to Black Lives Matter helps with the pain that so many people are going through.

I believe theres a tribal element that runs throughout culture even today. Were at a point now where survival and freedoms and liberties are being compromised and so were all tending to take take sides, even though I dont think thats the answer, so this is a symbolic way of expressing that.

Briauna Walker (Anatural_exchange) is a flight attendant for Spirit airlines, so she included an airplane in her section of the mural, which was the first she ever painted. It says Rise Above and a hand reaches up from a body of water.

The water symbolizes the despair of the community right now. Everybody is going through a struggle and trying to make it out of a tumultuous situation together and try to get all of us to understand that we have to have each others back in this. Seeing all walks of life to come together for one cause, for people who have always been feeling like were not seen, is amazing. The hand is the community coming together reaching for a higher cause.

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Tampa artists discuss their Black Lives Matter-themed intersection mural - Tampa Bay Times

All photographs courtesy of Mahadi Lawal and Occupy DC.

Occupy DC, a group of activists that formed to keep racial-justice issues front and center in the local conversation, has been hosting a series of events and protests in Black Lives Matter Plaza throughout the month of Julya candlelight vigil for Congressman John Lewis, sign-making events, meditations at midnight and sunset, and live yoga classes. But some have wondered about the implications of turning over a newly-symbolic place to activities that might read as commercial/corporate/bougie. Is it right to gather and down-dog in a space meant to commemorate Black lives lost?

In a q&a, Occcupy DC organizer Mahadi Lawal, 26, explains the groups rationale:

[Theyre] for us to decompress after weeks of constant stress and being attacked. It was a collaborative idea. We had been occupying that space since July 3, which is when we did our sit-in. We were approached by one of our Bartenders Against Racism and they suggested a yoga session right there. It went pretty well and after that, we realized one of our organizers [Aabidah Abdun-Nafi] is a yoga instructor. Shes doing one or two classes every week, and were getting a lot of requests from other instructors that want to donate their time and teach a class. A bunch of people helped us out. Weve gotten over 60 mats donated.

On the weekend sessions, probably at least 100 people. And then on Tuesdays Id say like 50 to 60. [The group is] quite mixed. There are a lot of people who havent been down there and we use that as an opportunity to draw more people into the movement. We do take some time at the end [of every session] to speak to people and really explain to them why were doing this, what were fighting for, and why its so important to us.

Yoga does seem like a complacent act [compared] to protest. It seems like were just giving up and trying to yoga away our issues, or that were gentrifying the area, but thats absolutely not true. The reason we started this is because a lot of us are in pain physically, mentally, and emotionally. Weve all been through a lot these past two months and Black people in general have suffered a lot our whole lives. I know that many of us cant afford or dont have access to any form of physical or mental care or support. I figured if we cant stop protesting because were so determined and dedicated, if we cant stop and get a break or get some self-care, we can totally bring the self-care that we need to the protest and maintain the message without leaving that space. So yoga and all that other stuff doesnt mean that were suddenly going to stop fighting or were giving up, it just means that we need a way to decompress so we can come back and be stronger for the next fight.

People are happy that they have a space to express themselves and let out stress, but also to support basically the most important movement of our lifetime. They are grateful that were doing something to bring others out and educate people that otherwise would not be in that space on the issues that were tackling. I dont expect everyone who comes to yoga to be a protestor or freedom fighter or a radical, but I see it as an opportunity to convert some people that might be on the fence. To show them who the protestors are and that these arent criminals [or] terrible people. These are normal people that want to survive in America.

As long as it takes. The yoga sessions are really just a small part of our plan and our occupation. Were going to keep bringing people out there for as long as it takes. We cant stop until the fight is won. Until we see some sort of substantial change, not until the DC Council starts listening and the mayor.

To attend an Occupy DC event or donate to the group, check out the Occupy DC Instagram.

Join the conversation!

Associate Editor

Mimi Montgomery joined Washingtonian in 2018. She previously was the editorial assistant at Walter Magazine in Raleigh, North Carolina, and her work has appeared in Outside Magazine, Washington City Paper, DCist, and PoPVille. Originally from North Carolina, she now lives in Adams Morgan.

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Why Organizers Think It's Okay to Host Yoga Class at Black Lives Matter Plaza - Washingtonian