Someone argues gun rights are important. You know everybody gets one single bolt action rifle. Now you go hard to reload. Cant do a whole lot of damage with that, unless youre very well trained. Nobody gets handguns semiautomatic weapons, et cetera, et cetera. We make that deal down. People need to be able to deal with vermin I suppose in rural areas. But obviously, we have a problem too. The countries have with guns indeed feral hogs. They surround your kids. The only thing the Catholic church concerned with is the communist pope that it has. Other than that buddy I wish we had a communist pope shouldnt we disarm the police before we disarm ourselves or with those happen at the same time, you know I mean, the police should definitely need your help. So for instance, the Dallas cops who used a bomb removal robot to actually carry a bomb to a wounded criminal who was lying in a parking garage bleeding to death and then blew him up despite the fact that he was shortly going to be unconscious from blood loss. I mean, I dont think cops should have execution robots right. I think that there are some squads that obviously need to be armed. Thats how it is in the UK in the UK when you would see cops dealing with like you know bicycle altercations as I saw outside my house one time. They usually werent like pulling guns on people. They didnt have guns on them. Indeed They were dealing with bicycle altercations. So you know, I think that you can make those kinds of distinctions. Does the Roman Catholic church have any Im sorry. And is that thoughts on the accusations by moralist catholics that we shouldnt support Black Lives Matter because its marxist. I never know what people mean when they say marxist. I think probably a good 50% of people who have marxist in their Twitter bios dont know what they mean when they say theyre marxist. The term has become so vast its called calm says concept creep. Right critique drift. I have no idea what people mean when they say its Marx as they say its atheistic. I would say this at the March for Life there are atheists there are atheists who come for the March for Life and make a big deal of being atheists and catholics embrace them. There are Mormons at the March for Life. Right There are evangelicals at the March for Life. There are all kinds of people at the March for Life and the catholics. They have no problem with it because theyre like, look, this is a cause right. And the cause is this particular thing were focusing on here. So if you can link arms with people who are secular or people of different faiths for a cause which it seems we can because it happens every year in January at the March for Life then I dont understand why you cant at least identify that this organization, whatever else its intentions or its agenda is the agenda that you know, police should not be killing black people. You know in the street ally George Floyd Orlando Castile and I think you know you can agree on that. And that can be an issue of shared advocacy. Its not just me. This has this has come up again and again from officials in in the church right. This is actually the view of the hierarchy itself. So if you go and read the letter that we have posted on Catholic social action a letter to all of the United States bishops you can see all of the church figures who we have quoted in favor of this very idea. Right So you know go check it out. Go to Catholic social action see whats up. Im not asking you to affirm everything that every organization that is involved in this effort believes. Im just asking you to affirm this one thing. And I think we can reasonably do that. Yeah police are not allowed to execute criminals. Thats where I kind of disagree with rod Dreher a little bit is just because youre resisting arrest doesnt mean the police can execute. You on the spot. Normally we have a trial for that kind of thing. And we put people to death with you know Chinese horse tranquilizers instead of shooting them in the back of the head or whatever crushing their necks and says, how we do things around here arent trials overrated. I mean trials have problems you know. But I think that, you know in absence of a better solution youve got to render the punishment after the trial would be my perspective. And I dont think thats too crazy. I like Coke. I dont know why people in Texas. Usually like Dr. pepper. Its not bad. Ill drink it. But I also call every brown soda Coke. Do you think the left has a problem with tactical unity with other culture factions. Yes well Space Jam to be good while space down line was pretty good. I really, really like Space Jam. Ill still watch Space Jam. Have I ever tried meditation. Yes, I do every day. Yeah dude, what the hell is up with that Dreyer post. That guy was practically salivating for death. I would recommend reading Alan Jacobs response on his blog. Snakes and ladders a.j. he had a very good kind of you know temperate but I think reasonably alarmed response and you know since then rudd has done a few edits where he expands on you know feeling a little less comfortable with what he originally said than he did at the time. Any words of wisdom on this anniversary of the atomic bombing. Yeah, it was a sin and a crime. All right incinerating thousands and thousands of innocent civilians and also poisoning the ground and many, many people who survived including unborn children in such a way that they would be disabled and maimed for the rest of their lives in the very earth itself would be poisonous. Seems like something thats pretty diabolical in nature. I did see a guy on Twitter yesterday say that the atomic bombs arent real that it was just like a fake like we used conventional bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and somehow faked everyone out into believing we had nukes and then everyone else also started pretending to have nukes. Thats a conspiracy theory thats obviously wrong, but its one Im going to dig deeper into because its kind of amusing and considering the existence of actual nuclear weapons is extraordinarily disturbing. I am a nuclear weapon abolitionist very much in favor of disarmament. Check out the documentary countdown to zero. Very much very much in favor of that. I saw it twice in theaters. Do you believe that the Cardinals only elected Francis because they expected him to die soon. Possibly there is this great verse in Jeremiah the heart is deceitful above all things and wicked beyond compare who can understand it. This is like triply true for Catholic Cardinals. Lets see how can a formal religious organization. So closely tied to imperialism be liberator free. Well hope springs eternal right. There is such a thing as liberation theology where the colonized peoples of Latin America who had been evangelized and converted to Catholicism by those very Spanish missionaries who showed up centuries before use that same theology to argue for their own liberation. America, of course violently suppressed a lot of that revolutionary activity and the church itself came out against it at the time. Pope Francis has been warmer to liberation theology and liberation theologians than other popes. And I think with good reason for one he is from Latin America. And so hes seen it on the ground. But obviously, I strongly support that approach. And I do think that this is a fundamentally laboratory faith. Liz can you address the fact that Matt looks exactly like Martin Luther cant say that I have ever noticed that you have to think about that to get in one of those like strange kind of early modern hats and to take a look. Will my toddler be going to school this year. Its not up to me now Ill listen to the local authorities. Do you think that more black people than what is publicized or victimized by police on the daily. I mean, probably right. I gather thats something that lots of black people deal with. I mean, you know if theyre not reporting it, then we dont have statistics. So I wouldnt doubt it. What are you working on these days. Oh, you know this and that. And the other. Im going to have a couple pieces. God willing about the conventions as they happen later this month. Do I like writing books. No, there are too long. I am sure that one day I will do that. But yes you should keep reading Gustavo the person who is asking about liberation theology. Are you moving to Texas perhaps. How are you, Elizabeth. Have you had your coffee yet. Well, because I think I grew up in an extremely hot climate in Texas. I dont drink coffee. I dont drink any hot drinks actually when I get up in the morning for my shot of caffeine I have an icy cold Coca-Cola product. They should pay me at least $1,000 for saying that. All right, you guys can hear the orb. Does Jane support abolishing the snack please. Well Jane. Shes figured out how to drag chairs and into the kitchen get into the high cabin and she can also pick the cabinet locks. So were a little bit at a loss of what to do. Your article didnt say much about st John of apparel Sarah statues being destroyed right. I mean. And that was intentional right. So if you look at what Gloria Purves says she is a devout Catholic. She is a black woman. And she was at the canonization of Saint junipero Serra. She was at the canonization in Washington d.c. during pope Francis first visit to the United States. She was there right. She is not saying tear down statues and burn churches. Quite the opposite. What shes saying is every time we say police killings of black people extrajudicial executions of black people are not good or bad should stop. That there is systemic racism in the United States. We should not have to then before we deal with that issue deal with this question of statutes. She is saying, can we please prioritize such that we are dealing with the issue of human lives before were dealing with the issue of statute. Shes not saying its unimportant. Right just saying that these statues in many cases can be replaced can be rebuilt and she supports that right. Its just that its frustrating to her as a black woman. And I fully understand this. And I think its fairly reasonable that every time she brings up these killings of black people by police instead of having that discussion or feeling solidarity from her co religionists on that front, she has to get into a discussion about statues right. Exactly we can walk and chew gum at the same time. And you know, I think in some situations in order to establish trust and good faith you have to have the one conversation before the other. How do you square your radical democratic politics and economics with the Episcopal sea. Well, I have my techniques I would not describe them as maybe radically democratic. You know I believe in democracy. The church has democratic functions inside of it. So the church is not like wholesale opposed to democracy. In fact, I think there are quite a few encyclicals that encourage it. So is there one piece of writing that you think would be beneficial for all humans to read. I mean, you know, the Iliad is good tells you many things worth considering. I dont l everybody should read the hobbit. Its a lot of fun doing that to my kids. Whos my favorite mystic. I say dog cross really and Gregory Anissa are you in a new place. Yes, I am at my friends house because Im in the process of moving. And so everything is sort of in a big tizzy right now. How do you square Black Lives Matter anti church rhetoric again right. You dont have to pay it to eat. Youre not being asked to affirm everything said by every single person in a broad coalition or movement. Right look at this in 1963 archbishop Patrick Boyle of Washington gave the prayer invocation at the March on Washington. Standing next to Martin Luther King jr. Do you think that he believed and agreed with and affirmed every single thing every faction in that coalition believe. No, I mean, it was interfaith right. There were people of all faiths there were Jewish people there are Catholic people there were Protestant people there secular people no doubt. So obviously saying that the principles at hand here are worthwhile principles that our faith demands. We respect is not the same thing as affirming every single message that comes out of a coalition movement. Right this is very, very easy. What is more essential reading Greek mythology or the Bible. I know you know I mean, I like them both. OK Bible is hard to read. Very difficult to read. Yeah You know people need help. I needed help. I went to school for it. So you know important and good. And I think the parts that are necessary are quite obvious. But you can also kind of guilt turned around in there is it similar to how one can promote the ideas of socialism, communism while acknowledging yes. Elizabeth its a core principle of BLM. Oh my god. Guys stop paying attention to the organization. OK Just dont worry about the Black Lives Matter global network. No one is asking you to affirm everything thats in their agenda statement of principles or what theyre asking to affirm the principle that police should be killing black people right. Thats all you have to. Thats all you have to do here. Or I mean, you dont have to I cant make you Im trying to write a persuasive article. But if what youre saying is this organization thats involved in a vast coalition or movement, which includes people who are in the organization, and like a huge majority of people who are not in the organization. If youre saying that you cant affirm the principles there of this huge coalition movement that is not strictly or I would even say mainly the organization Black Lives Matter global network. Youre saying you cant affirm the principle that there shouldnt be extrajudicial killings of black people, mainly because theyre black because there is an organization involved in this movement that is atheistic or anti church. I dont know what to tell you dont go to the March for Life. For sure, because there are secular people there every year they make a huge deal of it. Right So I dont know what to tell you. St. Thomas Aquinas or st. Augustine st. Augustin. Answer the question. Banana pudding or peach cobbler peach cobbler within the ice cream opinion on baking with soda like baking soda is oftentimes very important. Favorite Ben and Jerrys flavor Cherry Garcia Liz whats the best southern food. Fried chicken. Any tips on homemade pecan pie. Dude I dont like to comply. I dont know. Its not great. Its not great. I dont know. Maybe its just that they comply Ive had. I like the cons a lot. I love the cons. But you know, I like chopped up in oatmeal or something. But to come by. Its not me. I its extra thing. And its sort of like really kind of gooey stuff going on under the Yeah. I dont know. Yes Patrick OBoyle did tell John Lewis to change the speech because he thought it was too militant. The fact that Patrick OBoyle still showed up is evidence that you do not have to agree with everything in a coalition or movement right to agree with the core principles. In fact, you can state. I disagree with this. I disagree with that. But I agree with this. Youre entitled to do that. Thats fine. For instance, I will state. Now I disagree with anti church rhetoric and anti theistic and anti religious rhetoric that comes out of this anti-racist movement. But I affirm that catholics Christians should absolutely be opposed to police killings of black people. Favourite bill Murray movie. Thats a good question. Bill Murray is such an interesting actor. I really, really like lost in translation. I mean caddyshack is very, very hard to beat as well. Have you ever been to Ireland thoughts or opinions. I have never been to beautiful Ireland. I would love to go one day someone says, why just black people again, because that is the issue at hand right. It doesnt mean that every other issue every other killing is extraneous. The question. I think that frustrates so many black catholics and I know Gloria Purvis is when you say, look should police stop killing black people. Should the extrajudicial killings of black people stop when some other conversation has to come before that like what about police killings of other people. What about nuclear disarmament. Isnt it more important that we pull out of Iraq. I mean, yes, these are all conversations that are worth having. But can you just say yes to that one question first, I dont understand why not. Can you explain the Texas expat mindset. I mean, you know, you always miss Texas. I love Texas right. MacIntyre good. Great MacIntyre its great. I love Alice. MacIntyre a key element to examine is is there injustice present. If so Christians must be on the side of justice. I agree. Thoughts on Corrie bush went congratulations been on board since the beginning whataburger order. Oh my god. I mean, I always get fries no matter what else Im getting I like I like a lot of burger junior with everything I like. They like a moderate chicken mouth is really good. I like their barbecue chicken sandwich. The honey butter chicken biscuits you can get at breakfast are so good. I mean, I used to in the summer when I was a short window after I was diagnosed with epilepsy. Before I lost my drivers license that I could drive and when my parents would leave for work in the morning. I around like 745 I would get in my car and put my cat in there with me. I had a siamese at the time. And we would drive to water burger. And I would get a honey butter chicken biscuit and share some of it with them. Because good times miss that someone also asked about I am from Texas. Im from Arlington Texas. And someone asked me, what is my jack in the box order. Much easier. I like the chicken strips. The tacos curly fries with ranch and almost all of their like money boxes are really good. Do I live in Texas. Not currently unfortunately favorite legit Chinese restaurant in d.c. There was a really good place out in Falls Church called peking and gourmet. Its like its quite fancy and the family that owns it is really fantastic. And its great. I love it. Why do Christians have a hard time separating church from state. Well, because you know, Christians feel its only one source of morality. And politics is just a branch of ethics right. Thats just Aristotle so youre from edinburg Texas. Welcome how can the church push priest to support the Black Lives Matter movement, not necessarily organization and church pro-life issues. I think its just a matter of talking the people around you. Only 3% of American catholics are black. There are not many. And oftentimes American catholics are still sort of siloed and mainly black parishes. So I think its a matter of you know bringing people like Gloria in and just having conversation, talk to them as human beings. Do I have a seminary degree. No, I didnt go to seminary because I cannot be clergy. I have a masters of philosophy from Cambridge university and Christian theology. Do people at the New York Times ever say failing New York Times for locals. I know that my parents often say that to me for locals. Also the lying New York Times. So it is what it is. Lets see Miss you on left, right, and center. Miss you too makes for a good breakfast burrito. Well, thats another thing about water bird or whatever your breakfast iquitos is freaking amazing. Theyre awesome. I love them. Like sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast ticky iquitos from whataburger. There is no limit to how many of those. I can eat. I could eat them until I physically injured myself is football or baseball more popular in Texas Well probably football in terms of watching it. But you know people like baseball and my husband played football and baseball bets on the next pope. I cannot I cannot begin to predict. Thoughts on the space trilogy by c.s. Lewis. Freaking awesome. Actually I was talking to someone else yesterday about the sparrow. All all of the catholics in space books are amazing. And there are many of them. Yeah, I love them all. What position did mat play in baseball Matt. What position did you play in baseball all except catcher. He says, do you think you can be Christian while thinking the Bible is not such an essential tax. Read evil Christians. Yeah Well, mean, you know, it. We are. We are not you know as people of the book right. I mean, we havent we have a living faith. Thats still in development right. There are still revelations happening. So the bibles obvious extremely important foundational pillar of the faith. But there are also other things. And so its a matter of discernment and being together in our faith. Its very hard to do Christianity alone. Mainly what you need are other Christians. I think you can probably the orb is the orb is in containment. Would you like to see the orb. Someone asked why have you prioritized Black Lives Matter over COVID. I have written several articles on cove. In fact, I have written at least two reported articles on catholics and copied. So I am paying attention to the plague. All right, I am going to try summoning the orb back. Do you want a green cleric here. Shes going to sleep. Im sorry. Thats why shes calling for me to rescue her because shes being put down for a nap. So shes you know my mother. Come get me out of my baby cage. Why is Christian dating so hard. I cannot even imagine. He is very angry. The orb is furious. Objects are about to start flying off the walls and the electricity is going to go out as she uses her giant mind to tell the kinetically manipulate our surroundings. Do I like Joni Mitchell. Yeah, I really do. I love folk music. I listen to it a. I love Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. I love Neil young on his own you know helplessly hoping as maybe one of my favorite songs of all time. I love a case of you love Stevie Nicks a big fleetwood Mac fan. Very, very often very often listen to Joni Mitchell Joan Baez whos just unrivaled in my opinion. Can we get Ross to march. We can try. You know Gordon Lightfoot love Gordon Lightfoot. Actually theres a great cover of Gordon Lightfoot. I think that Sarah McLachlan did of if you can read my mind, which is like this extremely heartbreaking song he wrote about his divorce. The beautiful, beautiful stuff. I love Gordon Lightfoot. In the early morning rain with a buckle in my hand. Also Steve Wynwood blind faith right. Cant find my way home. Awesome Good stuff too late to help out people. Course all right. So Texas is all about thoughts on southern Baptist dominance in Texas Well you know. I mean, Ive written on Texas in evangelicals several times. And you know I think theres nuance there. And so forth. Thoughts on cardinal Burke always well dressed thoughts on Morgellons. No we get to hear both sides know about that on live. Should I have a kid. Yeah, sure. You know, Im quite attached to mine. I think you know, you know maybe enjoy enjoy it. Ive enjoyed my right. Lets see. Alaska is more than twice the size of Texas. Take that. Thats true. Alaska is bigger in terms of landmass but not in terms of spirit. The Texan soul is enormous. Yeah And you know Texans like that. While the biggest in the continental unites a contiguous United States a kid scares the shit out of me. Oh, it scared the shit out of me. Certainly not wrong about that. My favorite Western. Thats a good question. I like a lot of them. Well, there was this late great period in the 70s where, you have a bunch of fantastic westerns that also have like just amazing soundtracks. Like knockin on heavens door Butch Cassidy and Sundance kid. I mean, all of that John rough sort of dark 1970s westerns with these amazing folk soundtracks. Just kill it. For me personally, we have a Canadian trying to own Texas, which I will I will allow because you know Texas is big enough to sustain some minor distance from our friendly neighbors up north. I dont mean Oklahoma. Oklahoma is absolutely never allowed to diss Texas who is my favorite rapper. Please dont say M&M. Yeah, I know that shes been canceled although Im not sure why, but Im a big Nicki Minhaj fan pills and potions. Great song. I mean, honestly, Ive not heard many songs of hers. And I dont really like John Lee is great. I mean, big Nicki Minhaj fan. This has been the hope this has been a useful chat sort of winding down a bit here. Headwinds book this life. Yeah Im partially through it. Have you seen the pic of big tax on for her. Yes, it was funny. They had him in like a party. It was a bit of a law. Thoughts on the discourse around cultural appropriation. Im not really the best person on it. I havent read deeply enough into it. Sorry I thought is a useful occasionally interesting is seen in 8 or is it something thats learned tendency to sin. Did I grow up in a Texas suburb. Yes, I did. I grew up in a suburb of Dallas and also kind of a suburb of Fort Worth in between the d and the fw Arlington. Who do I need to bribe to get you back. Im left, right, and center. I have no idea. I have no idea. No idea. Where did you cut your posting teeth before Twitter. Well, I dont really remember life before Twitter. I dont know. Thats a good question. Any pub dates puppy updates. Yeah, weve promised the children a puppy. So were trying to figure out how to do that. If CBS offered you Allens job would you take it, absolutely an instant. And I actually am nice right. Im way too passive, to be mean to staff right now. There was someone who tweeted one time that like when a waitress says, do mind if I reach over you. They think to themselves maam you can shoot me with a gun right now. Oh been kind of very similar in dealing with the waitstaff or anyone whos working with me. If you cant be nice to people who are helping you do your job, then you know you need to not have a job. But he got his name the New York Times many crossword. When will you get your name in there. I dont know. I guess when I earn it. Thoughts on corgis. I saw a corgi in a shopping cart yesterday at a Home Depot. Thought it was really cute. I have not read Kennedys head to be an anti-racist though Ive read like a million reviews of it at this point. There was a good one that ran in the Atlantic and there was a good one in The New Yorker. I sometimes end up reading more book reviews than books and unfortunately, some of time you know some navy seals. No, Im not sure that I do. But I would welcome getting to know a navy seal it sounds like an interesting job. Cormac McCarthy fan O my idol right. Enormous Cormac McCarthy fan. I would give anything to have 20% of the writing acumen of Cormac McCarthys. Every time I try to write something in in or manage to Cormac McCarthy I feel like you like ash and the Royal Tenenbaums, You know the frisky leading dusk just comes up really absurd. And he deeply reported pieces upcoming. Oh, Yeah, absolutely. What are you and Frank Czech going to do a podcast called living it up. Thats a good question. Favorite brunch drink. I dont drink alcohol. So at brunch. I usually just have the cold. Frankly not very interesting. Doesnt CarMax sort of lead you to the water and then turn around and walk you away. Yeah well hes a very hes a very interesting sort of poet of moral ambiguity. I think thats what makes him. So great. Right anybody can be didactic and I. I guess my great goal as a writer is to not necessarily be so obviously didactic but to point to moral ambiguity because I think exposure to moral ambiguity develops your moral capacities right. Ultimately you have to develop an internal moral sensibility yourself and only exposure to ambiguity where you have to sort out morality in difficult situations is going to build that capacity that skill set. Whats your disassociated style and poppet troll comes on just like pass out while Im still awake. I mean, I had dreams about puppetry like this. Its just when Paul patrol comes on. I mean, I lose like 10% of my will to live. But you know. You know its better than some alternatives. So have you been in the k hole. What is the k hole. Is that like the k hive. No lose you are one of my favorite whites. Thank you. My friend but the troll for the troll. Yes someone is now posting that. No, I have not been on ketamine. Why am I being asked that. Is this a meme or am I doing something that suggests that Im on ketamine. Is Texas barbecue supreme. Yeah, I mean, I think Texas barbecue is what I was raised with. So of course, Im going to be pretty pretty dedicated to it. How are things going with the peoples policy project. I think its good. Am I a junkie. Biden is curious. No, I dont think so. OK So youve got some kind of ketamine thing going here. No, Im off on the ketamine means cycle IV. Im too old. What do you imagine the heavenly kingdom is like. Yeah, thats a good question. I think Gregory Agnes says God is so infinite right. That your understanding of him and love for him is permanently evolving and always changing. So I imagine heaven as this circumstance of infinite discovery. So think of every time you ever learn something new and felt the pleasure of understanding and the curiosity of searching and the satisfaction of discovering. I think heaven is that over and over and over again about the nature of God. And then also, its a situation where youre permanently loving and growing and love all the time. And you know anyone whos ever been in love knows thats emotional and thrilling and also deeply peaceful. My favorite Japanese kit Kat. Yeah, so theyre like ones youre supposed to put in the oven that are like cheek ache. I think, or something or like a custom I mean, obviously, I cant read the KNG on there. My friend sent them to me when she was living in Japan for a while. But was really good. What is my favorite film that deals with faith. Silence Scorsese Daisy right now. Quite like that one. Its very explicit. Can you cancel my meeting. So I can keep hearing you talk. Yeah post your bosss number right now. This is the New York Times and I need you to release your employees from meetings. This is important. Were talking about my water burger order. Weve talked about liberation is charcuterie Bourgeois. Probably although Matt likes meats on a plate. Some meetings are canceled. What is your opinion on Florida. I think its fine. I mean, you know, it draws heat away from Texas in terms of the press. So you have to appreciate that. Lets see is it true. You can dunk a basketball. No no those reports vastly exaggerated. Did you have, especially memorable pregnancies. I had very easy pregnancies very, very blessed by that easy pregnancies easy deliveries. Would you accept a Joe Rogan invite. Yeah, absolutely. Talk to whoever wants to talk to me, honestly. All right. So my position has always been and always will be that anyone who honestly wants to have a conversation really interested in talking its not just like a bad faith dunk fast or something. I will talk to them. It doesnt matter who they are right or where theyre coming from always willing to talk. All right. How tall am I I am four foot 11. Someone says hello hello what did you think of the Bill Maher movie religious. I remember at one point religious bill Ma goes to like a Christian theme park. And he gets owned by a theme park Jesus because hes like the Trinity doesnt make any sense. And then this guy whose job is to dress up like Jesus and walk around a theme park is like, well, you know think of it like water you have water, but it can also be a gas. And then you have ice and its a solid sea of solid liquid gas. So the Trinity is similar to that though Mars has nothing to say to it. Hes like. And then the next day hes like in a car and hes like, you know it looked like I was owned but actually, I was not. Which I found really entertaining. You know eternity is hard to explain. But the guy did an OK job and the point is whether or not it was like a theologically astute description of the Trinity kid owned by a few for Jesus. Its really enjoyable. Favorite recently published novels. Yeah, Ive been trying to read my year of rest and relaxation. I just havent had a whole lot of time. But you know one of these days. I hope to get through it. I try to keep abreast of the new books the kids are all talking about, and so on. All right or winding down here. Did I ever get into Game of Thrones. I also, it should be said that I was like kind of like in a transitional phase in my life when Game of Thrones was happening, I was like in college and my family got really undo it. So I was home for I think Christmas. It could have been the summer. But I know we got Olive Garden to go for some reason. So like Im standing in the kitchen from which there is a view of my familys TV. My familys all the living room watching TV and Im like standing there eating my you know tour of Italy or whatever. And theres like a little girl being burned to death. And I was like, what the hell is this. And my parents are like, no trust. Trust me, you trust me. Its you know the plot. Its important to the plot. But since that was pretty much my first experience of the show. I tagged out. But I know I know the general plot because it was it was around in the other three minutes 3 minutes of questions and really important stuff for the last three minutes. I cant tell if Matts a baseball fan or cynic is he either. Yeah Matts a fan of all sport. But hes not a fan in the usual sense where he follows teams he just enjoys what he calls good game play. So he likes weird, interesting trick players who used to like Boise State a lot. You know he just likes bizarre things happening in sports, that kind of play with the limitations of the rules. Would you try ketamine with me. Is that not like a veterinary drug. No you guys need to stop stop taking ketamine and stop trying to imitate ketamine. Thoughts on Schwarber. Very good. Favorite sport. I dont know. You know. You know I find football is nice. It reminds me of fall. Raising hay while Boise State a favorite spiritual works on dark knight of soul confessions. Those are you know the showings. Julian Norwood to Norwich very, very important, if not the US. Where would you live and why Canada. Because its nice and everyone is nice there. Do you think Garfield is bad in silence. If so do you think thats the point. A county and Dracula. OK So Bram stokers Dracula is one of the greatest movies of all time. I freaking love that movie because its like just pure 100% kitsch like top to bottom. Total kitsch. It is self-aware. Its got always was its guy Anthony Hopkins doing it kind of a strange cookie monster that voice. Its got Keanu Reeves Winona Ryder I mean, it is bananas and I love that movie. I have it on all the time when company is over because no matter where theres a breaking conversation theres something insane happening in that film. And Garfield I mean, I thought the problem with him in silence was that he basically is just weeping from like frame one through the very end and may you know I suppose thats not too terribly difficult that it is you know or too terribly different than the character of Rodriguez in the novel although I think that Rodriguez in the novel takes a lot longer to kind of collapse and its really that sort of scene in the river where you start to see things go awry. But Yeah, I think its a good film for lunch. Im going to have I think breakfast for lunch. All right. I think Ive got to take off. Get back to work and follow up with you guys later. I hope you have a good day. Thank you for tuning in, and Yeah. OK So one more question would you recommend any other of work. Yes read the C and poison but shes lucky Linda. All right love you guys have a good day. Bye bye.

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American Catholics and the Black Lives Matter Movement - The New York Times

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Back the Badge and Black Lives Matter protesters turn out Olathe - KCTV Kansas City

This group is marching 750 miles from Milwaukee to arrive in Washington DC on the 57th anniversary of MLK's "I Have A Dream" speech. USA TODAY

CHICAGOAbout 40 people on foot, riding bikes and perched atop graffitied cars paraded through Chicago's North Side on Thursday evening. Children skipped and hung out car windows with their fists in the air. Drivers honked and blasted music as pedestrians clapped and cheered the passing caravan.

The diverse group of men, women and children was three daysinto a 750-mile march from Milwaukee to Washington, D.C., plannedto coincide with the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have A Dream" speech onAug. 28.

"When George Floyd died 69 days ago, we began to march in Milwaukee," said community activist and violence interrupter Frank Nitty, who helped organize the march. "We had already been marching 15-20 miles a day. I wanted to keep that streak going."

'There's no way to stop us': Milwaukee protesters begin march to Washington, D.C.

Themarch, which hopes to bring awareness to racial inequity and police brutality, stepped off in Milwaukee on Tuesdaywith about 20 participants, aiming to complete 31 miles a day. The group stayed overnight in Zion, Illinois, on Tuesday, then in Winnetka, Illinois, on Wednesday, Nitty said. They hoped to reach Indiana by Thursday night.

Milwaukee residentSandy Solomon, 49, said she pulled a calf muscle on the first day and had to briefly sit out in one of the cars to wrap her leg. Then she kept walking.

"The biggest thing that most of us are dealing with is that our feet are sore, so we got some Epsom salt and were going to get some foot tubs and soak them at night," Solomon said.

Marchers from Milwaukee passes through Chicago on their way to Washington, D.C., for the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington on August 6, 2020.(Photo: Grace Hauck)

Marchers were keeping food, luggage and other supplies inthe trunks of their cars, and Nitty's son and other teens occasionally handed out snacks and water bottles to marchers or those on the curb in need of food.

Nitty said the group initially planned to set up camp at night or rent anRV, buthe ended up payingfor hotel rooms forthe first night. On the second night, when the group had grown to 25, someone tracking the march on social mediapaid for their hotel rooms, said Nitty, who has been posting Facebook Live videos to his 80,000 followers.

Most of the meals havebeen donated, and people on foot and in cars have periodically linked up with the march. Minutes before, a woman had run over and handed Nitty a blow horn and some cash. While the group doesn't have any official name or affiliation, it supports the mission of theBlack Lives Matter movement, Nitty said.

WATCH: The two key ingredients to achieve a successful protest

"We got some people who had only what they had on and joined just with that," Nitty said as a middle-aged woman began walking with the group. "It's been amazing going through these small towns and have people coming out to helpand march for awhile."

Martin Luther King III imagines the sweet reunion between his parents and Rep. John Lewis on the other side. USA TODAY

Nitty said the group plans out its specific route about five days in advance, with a general intention to avoid highways but still passthrough major cities.

"Were taking streets the whole way," Nitty said. "Were going to make sure we go through neighborhoods and communities mainly suburban communities that dont have to deal with this issue, and let them know that theyre not going to get no sleep until Black lives matter. We want to be peaceful, but we also want to be a disruption. We dont want people to be comfortable with whats going on. Theres no comfort in Black lives not mattering."

Marchers from Milwaukee passes through Chicago on their way to Washington, D.C., for the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington on August 6, 2020.(Photo: Grace Hauck)

ForMilwaukee-based victims advocateTory Lowe, marching from Chicago to Milwaukee is nothing new. Hesaid he has been doing it every year for the last five years to protest police brutality. Three weeks ago, Nitty approached Lowe and asked him if he was interested in going a little further.

"We're not going to stop," Lowe said. "Were going to continue until the injustice in America is dealt with properly."

But walking the walk hasn't been easy so far, Lowe said.

"Thirty miles a day world classes athletes wouldnt walk 30 miles a day for 24 days," he said. "Were doing something that most people wouldnt even attempt, and were doing it together."

This year'sanniversary of the historic marchcomes in the wake ofa series of worldwide protests condemning police brutality and calling for criminal justice reform. In June, the Rev. Al Sharpton announced he wasorganizing a march in Washington on the anniversaryto "restore and recommit that dream."

Looking for books about racism?Experts suggest these must-read titles for adults and kids

Do protests ever enact real change? Yes. But not all movements are created equal. Here's the ingredients of a successful movement. USA TODAY

"We're going back to Washington," Sharpton declared when giving his eulogy at the funeral of Floyd, an unarmed Black man who diedafter a white Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground with his knee. "We need to go back to Washington and stand up Black, white, Latino, Arab in the shadows of Lincoln and tell them, This is the time to stop this.'"

Martin Luther King III, attorney Benjamin Crump and families of police brutality victims were expected to attend the march under the rallying call "Get Your Knee Off Our Necks." The families of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner planned to speak at the event, according to theNational Action Network.

Amid concerns about the coronavirus pandemic,the NAACP this weeklaunched a website for a "virtual march" to providea "series of events and activities to recommit to the dream Dr. Martin Luther King defined in the 1963 march, to call for police accountability and reform, and to mobilize voters ahead of the November elections," according to an NAACP press release.

Contributing:Ricardo Torres, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel;Savannah Behrmann, USA TODAY

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'Thirty miles a day': They're walking 750 miles to arrive in DC on 57th anniversary of MLK's 'I Have A Dream' speech - USA TODAY

NEWTON, NJApproximately 100people gathered at Hillside Park in Andover for a peaceful Black Lives Matter Rally lastSaturday.

Despite the heat, from noon to three, a dozen people spoke, sharing poems, songsand their personal feelings and statements about the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Newton High School 2014 graduates and life-long Andover residentsMarina Regolizio and Ryan Mullin organized the event.

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We wanted to do an event like this here because there has never been one in Andover and especially not on this site, Mullin said.

My whole thing with wanting to make it happen around here,Regolizio said is that in predominantly white areas, people dont think to learn about diversity when that is exactly when you need to learn about; other people, other cultures and other lived experiences because that is how you promote tolerance and acceptance and you know, solid treatment of human beings in general. That is why I think Sussex county is very important in all of this, Deon Williams and Naomi Zoko were the pioneers for Newton, and so were just following their trend too.

The park was chosen, according to Mullin and Regolizio because of the historical background, as it was the site of Camp Nordland, a German-owned youth camp, that promoted Nazi values and invited Ku Klux Klan members as guests in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Mullin noted that there were times in his childhood that he would be walking around the park and see the old camp remnants.

Many of you know the reason why I called for it to be here," Mullin said.Many of you know the history, but in case you dont, now you will."

Mullin explained that for much of the 1930s and up until 1941, Hillside Park was the site of the Great American Bund, while under the former monikerCamp Nordland.

"They marched in droves by the buildings in the back woods, draped Nazi flags over American flags.They did the Nazi salute and had countless representation of hate and despicable ideologies right here where we stand. They were a nuisance to a small town that was even smaller back then. The town banned them in 1939and in 1941 on Memorial Day, they officially shut down.

"It wasnt just Nazis.It was white supremacists; they used this land to strengthen all their messages. The reason we are here today is because we cannot remove the stains on our history no matter how painful they are-we cannot ignore them. Everyone knows the adage about being doomed to repeat history if you dont know it and I dont want to feed into that. I feel that it is incumbent upon us as a community to strike a middle ground in between ignoring its existence and the presence on the neighbor that it has and expunging it completely.

"Instead, I think that we should attempt to create a new more inclusive and loving and amazing representation that we have here. I racked my brain on the perfect way to encapsulate all of thisand then I realized, what were doing...What we stand for hereand what we strive to achieve is the very antithesis of everything they tried to achieve and it will always be that way. There is truly no better way to exemplify our committal to being better in every capacity than the roots from which this town has grown from, painful roots, but there is no better way to be a part of what we are doing here today.

In addition to Mullin, Regolizio, Scott Paul, Lorant Mena, Rachael White, Allison Powers, Olivia Webster, Lauren Rabbit, Abigail Rabbit, and Zoe Heath all took the microphone to address the crowd.

Paul, serving as Master of Ceremonies, spokea number oftimes between speakers. He noted this isnt a black thing, a brown thing, a white thing; its a people thing and clearly thats how you guys feel and thats why youre here. He also discussedchanges that have occurred since the death of George Floyd:

The list goes on and on because our voices are getting louder, because our voices have come together. One person cant do it, two people cant do it but all of us together, we can really make some changes, Paul said.

Town Councilman Matthew Dickson was there in support of his stepdaughter, Olivia Webster, who spoke during the Newton rally and the Andover rally.

I support herwanting to speak up for what she believes in and I think it gives me a lot of perspective as well, to be more open and listen and try to understand more in general about things," Dickson said."Totake a harder look at things. So often now, there is dissension and not wanting to have discussions.Its either everyones on one side or another. It'snice to be able to listen and talk and learn more and I think more people should do it."

Webster, whowas the final speaker of the event,spoke with Tapinto Newton prior to the event. Sheexplained the reason why, at her age, she is attending the rallies and what they have meant to her personally.

Im bi-racial and live with my white family, but my dadand brothers are black," Webster said."So looking at George Floyd and then looking at little kids being killed for this stuff I just got to thinking that could very well be my brother or someone I love. I worry about them all the time and it made me realize that this is not something that I can just sit by and let happen.

"I have amazing supportive parents who have pushed me to speak up for what I believe in and I feel like if you want something to change you cant just sit down and wait for it, you have to stand up and be part of it and right now with everything happening in the country, history is being made and when our kids are learning about this I dont want to have to tell them oh I didnt do anything.

Regolizio took her time at the microphone to talk about inclusion and the need for more cultural diversity.

And so, it is here in small towns, where we have the least representation of minority groups that we need to educate ourselves on lived experiences beyond what we see right in front of us. Racism is not simply a mean dude yelling at you, it is structures and rules in our society that play an impact in everyday life. Its the woman who followed my brown cousin around the clothing store.Its the way my classmate whispered the word 'black,' as if it was a bad word.Its the way my sorority sister strived for saneness and elite-ness, over uniqueness and loving ourselves. Its in actions. Its in language and its in our infrastructure. So, fighting for equity does not end with this rally.

"The word equity was not a typo. The word equity was chosen for a reason, it is about the fair treatment and the access, opportunities and advancement for all people and actively identifying and eliminating barriers that have prevented certain groups participation in that. So, join us today in trying to knock down some of those barriers, let us connect now and in the future as friends and family, as community members within this area and beyond. Let us celebrate and learn from each other, our backgrounds and our interests. Let us share stories, music, poetry, art, connections, and people that have inspired us to be the best versions of ourselvesand fight against anyone who has made anyone feel anything less. So, lets fight for Black lives, equity, and justice. Let us create space for inclusion and diversity. Let us show the world that we will always choose love over hate every time.

The names of the black trans lives that have ended in 2020 because of racism, bothpolice brutality andhate crimes, according to Regalizio, were read aloud. Those in attendance kneeled and had a moment of silence.

Maybe the most saddening thing about it is the fact that those names that you listed are just the ones we know of,"Paul said.Elijah McClain, its hard for me to even talk about that one, but we wouldnt have even known about Elijah McClain if it wasnt for George Floyd. That is why its important to be out here, its important that we protest, its important that we are [angry], you know.

Led by Paul, the voices of the crowdchanting The people united, will never be defeated echoed in the far back woods of Hillside Park.

Mena shared song lyrics from a song that he wrote titled Free and ended with the final portion of Malcom Xs speech at Oxford University

Free- see me and you are not alike, I fast for 40 days and 40 nights, cleanse my soul, behold, the light, free, try to tell me how Im living, open the doors of perception to see something different, why are we so indifferent, to demise, desensitize, and distant. Free to embrace the moment, and the motion of your emotion rolling through the ruins devoted to find the light that flows through me, when Im zoning, I gotta get it running with it like its stolen, Im on a mission to win against my opponent, this Malcolms vision, this skin is golden, who you kidding, we was chosen, the worlds teachers, the secrets unfolding. Free- thats what we talking, ancestors watching, we steady, locked in, to the matrix, brainwashed, this time we aint stopping, til we get to the light, Im talking free, see you and me are not alike, I fast for 40 days and 40 nights cleanse my soul, behold, the light, free.

White, also a life-long Andover residentspoke about how the location of the rallyonce stood for the exact opposite reason they were gathered there on Saturday.

But regardless of what may have happened here 80 years ago, I feel pride in my town," White said. "A town that I have resided in for 22 years organizing an event like this. I feel proud that were advocating for something that may not affect everyone directly. You may think that well we dont have that problem here, not in my town, yet were still using the resources available to us to incite change and bring awareness. And in the midst of chaos in our world, in the media, or even in our own lives, its crucial to speak out against injustice, even when met with adversity. It's essential to have those conversations with people who may or may not think like you do, who have trouble seeing significance in why we rally, who simply cannot relate. But silence is not an option, being compliant is not an option and if youre uncomfortable with the things you see or get upset with what you hear going on in the world around us- good, because police brutality should make everyone uncomfortable. Enough is enough and what were doing here right now is how we start to make a change.

"Talking about it and making it known that we will not stand for it. This movement is more than posting a black square on your Instagram, or re-tweeting something that someone already said, for me personally, its making sure that someone I love is not the next George Floyd or Sandra Bland, so someone that you care about or I care about doesnt become the next trending hashtag or next headline, or center for debate. Its about making sure that my future children and your future children do not have to grow up in a world where they will be judged by the color of their skin and not the content of their character.

"Let me be clear, it is not about us versus them, it is about right versus wrong and basic human decency. And the fight does not stop today, or tomorrow, or the day after that, yes your Facebook, twitter, and Instagram feeds may have returned to their normal programming, but that does not mean pump the brakes, this is not a one-time thing. I ask you not to go home tonight and say, well I did my part and be done. Just like all things in life, it is easy to do the bare minimum and ignore the problem. I will leave you with this, hate will never win, hate will not make America great, equality will always win, solidarity will always win, and love will always win.

While many of the speakers shared their personal stories and experiences with those in attendance, people like Mena, Paul and Powers shared poems and songs that they wrote themselves on the topic.

Powers, who said it was truly a blessing to be at the rally, started her speech with a poem to honor black lives.

We come to this barn, where theres been 80 years of hate. But now were here to determine out fate. A man who wants to make America great, well I think he might be a little too late. Ode to the poem that spread in May, I am not black but I see you, this is what Im here to say. Im not black and I cant ignore that fact that there are Nazi shacks right in the back. Im not black and Im here to say, the racism and bigotry stops today. Im not black and Im a woman, Ive had my share of violence, but I wont be silenced. Back to black lives. How much should it cost to support all the peoples beautiful lives that we have lost. We stand here today, and were here to say that were sick of people casually commit brutality like racism is a fallacy and their entitled to black bodies. I have had friends break down and tell me their tired of feeling afraid to exist. What does it mean to matter? We are ready to shatter the bigotry, patriarchy and this backwards hierarchy. To matter means to be of importance, to have significance. I think its time we make a difference. Let us hold our head high look to heaven and why because well get there someday. Let us pave our own way.

Paul stepped up to the microphone next, talking about a text he has received from Lauren Rabbit earlier that morning. In the text, she wrote some of her favorite parts from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Letter in a Birmingham Jail.

It will kill me,he said after he read the excerpts if my future kids have to be doing the same thing, you know. It really is so important to know where we came from, what this used to stand for 80 years or so ago and the progress we have made since then but also the progress that we have not made since then. The fact that we can say the same exact words about the same exact issues 50 years later, should [anger]everybody.

He ended his portion with a song that he wrote as well, which was titled, Time for Change.

I swear that we all the same, I wish it was Kaepernicks knee that sparked the change, they wish that we could go back to the better days, you know back when it was perfect, back when I was three-fifths of a person. Back to present day its like we still ain't the same under the law we walk for brother martin and now we run for Ahmad, the teachers teach us that we can be whatever we believe in but how am I supposed to dream when Breonna Taylor was sleeping. Im so sick and tired, tired of hiding the pain I got, fire in my veins, were still fighting for change. As I think about George Floyd and Elijah McClain. And all the others that can continue dying in vain. Knowing I only get justice if it is recorded and justice only comes to those who can afford it and privilege only comes to those who can ignore it, I wish we could focus on whats important. What is it going to take for you to see? My skin is not a threat to nobody, all we need is love for us to change a state of mind.

The second half of the rally was led by the Rabbit family;Mother Lauren and daughter Abigail. Lauren, who also attended the Newton Rally, said a few words, read aloud other parts of Kings letter, quoted the late John Lewis and then led the group in a healing meditation.

I just want to point out the fact that we can hear the echoes in the trees here, and so to me that is a blessing of this space, it is a reclaiming of this space, and it is a transformation of this space, but like my friend Scott said, it takes every single one of us to keep going and to face being tired and exhausted. We are not going to give up, we cant. There is still so much to do. Here we are again, gathering together in the highest hope for spreading of love and unity, coming together again, with hopes for realizing and being the agents in the making of the beloved Dr. Kings community. We are here for healing, that is what we all hope to spread today. We are here for the justice that is required for that healing,she said before the meditation.

She saidstories are so important. The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, about our experiences, about our country and our world define our very lives both as individuals and collectively. Language and words have power to create our reality. That is why it is so important that we keep saying, loudly black lives matter, that we keep urging others to join us in saying it, speaking it, so that the narrative can change. And that Black lives, Indigenous lives, the lives of People of Color, of the economically disadvantaged, of the LGBTQ community, of any of those who suffer, can truly, finally, and forevermore matter.

Before she let the group in a Metta meditation, Lauren read a quote from the late John Lewis who stated, When historians pick up their pens to write the story ofthe 21stcentury, let them say it was our generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So, I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers, and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.

Abigail read an essay that she had written back in December and sent to the Newton Board of Education about the Native American head being the mascot of the Newton High School, she wanted to raise awareness.

For as long as I have been a part of the Newton community, the idea of having a Native American mascot has felt wrong, specifically one with such a predominant caricatured image that also holds such an important place in the schools identity. Perhaps during this time when as a country, we are recognizing the truth about systemic racism and unconscious implicit bias we can choose to revisit the idea of what having this mascot truly represents and see if it lines up with what we believe about our schools Brave, Redskin, Warrior, Chief nouns you might recognize from a sports team mascot. The Merriam-Webster dictionary deem these as, outdated and offensive terms for Native Americans and yet these mascots persist in over 2,000 secondary schools all over the country, she said.

Abigail noted that looking around at the students and teachers clad in Newton swag and sitting in classrooms staring at the posters and pictures, many bearing this depiction, I feel violated. I am white and though I have no ancestral ties to Indigenous people, it feels deeply wrongonly when we admit that our country has a shameful past and work to hear and tell the whole story, will we be able to be the proud country and school we claim to be. Equality, freedom and liberty are words that our county is built on, but they only mean something when they have been put into action. When we make ourselves vulnerable enough to fight for them to mean the same thing for everyone.

The final two speakers were Heath and Webster. Heath turned the attention to the LGBTQ community and the solidarity between them and the Black Lives Matter movement.

For those of you who may not know, the first pride ever was a riot against police brutality started by black transgender women. It is so indicative of how far this country has come, this country did not get womens voting rights because people sat at home, people fought for it. Black people did not get the right to vote because people sat at home, they fought for it. LGBTQ people did not get the right to marry because we sat at home, we fought for it and not for nothing but at the forefront of every one of those movements, were black women. I see a lot of my LGBTQ friends are not here today, I will see them at pride, but theyre not here today and Im so concerned of why I keep seeing the same faces here. I see Lauren at all of these, I see Scott at all of these, there have been over five of these in Sussex County alone and where is everybody else? I know it is a pandemic, but we need to be here, we need to be fighting we need to get this through. Because there is no pride for some of us without justice for all of us. I want to leave you with this. Solidarity is everything, I truly want everyone to uplift the voices that we have heard today and the stories we have heard, they will continue here today, and spread the messages, I dont want what we hear here to not leave here. Everyone here should tell five of their friends, its your homework for today. The next time there is one of these, because Im sure there will be another one, whether it be because we have to or because we need to keep this movement going because I hate to say it like this, George Floyd was not the last one, Breona Taylor was not the last one, and we are not going to stop until there are no more black deaths at the hands of racism and police brutality. No matter what protest you go to, there will always be one thing you will hear, she said chanting, show me what democracy looks like, this is what democracy looks like.

The final speaker, Webster, closed out the rally with her own personal experiences of how life has been for her.

Growing up in the same house as my white mother and stepfather who are both elected officials in my town, with a whitewashed name and some level of racial ambiguity, and in an area where I can get a good education, I know that I have privilege. And I know that when you have privilege, it's your job to use it to fight for whats right. However, even with all the privilege I have been granted, I've still been targeted for my race numerous times. I have been told not to be that black girl and people frequently make rather offensive comments on my natural hair.

"Peers have even told me that they do not view me as a black person which is implicitly racist. Lately, Ive realized that with everything I've been granted, including the chance to speak with all of you today, if all of this is happening to me, clearly it must be happening to those who havent had all the chances Ive had in life, even in my school. That people around me are being silenced and if my voice is more likely to be heard, I have to use it to advocate for equality and justice for those who cant. I know that we live in a predominantly white area and maybe some people think that because of that, we dont need these demonstrations here. But that even more evidence that we do.

"We as a community need to learn to be tolerant and inclusive and teach those who have yet to learn, with patience and compassion, we need to educate ourselves and others because the hard truth is that this stuff does happen here. Even the ground we are standing on right now was once used to push hate and prejudice, which is why it is even more amazing to see so many people standing up for change. More importantly we are all here to get justice for those who cant, like Breonna Taylor, who today has gone 141 days with justice, Elijah Mcclain who has been gone nearly a year and we are just now saying his name. Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, Eric Garner, Philandro Castile and so many more. Their voices were all silenced far too soon so we must use our to fight for them. We must spread kindness, love and understanding and I cant begin to express how proud I am of our community for fighting and continuing to fight.

A socially distanced group photo was taken to round out the rally. Mullin and Regalizio donated $471 that was raised at the event to a group called the Common Ground Foundation, whose emphasis is on community, uplifting, art, and working towards bettering communities.

In an interview with Tapinto, Mullin and Regalizio noted that they were immensely proud of the warmth and graciousness that our community embraced us with today. Every single person in attendance was evidently on the same page: injustice is formidable opponent we must all fight back against, black lives deserve our full and undivided attention, and that art and creativity can and should play a pivotal role in all of this This is truly only the beginning of this movement in Andover and in Sussex County, and the response we were given today makes us all the more confident that together we will undoubtedly invoke the change we wish to see.

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Black Lives Matter Rally on Grounds of Former German Youth Camp in Sussex County - TAPinto.net

A woman who has already been arrested once for throwing paint on the Black Lives Matter mural in front of Trump Tower was arrested again for doing exactly the same thing.

Police say 39-year-old Juliet Germanotta acted alone this time in vandalizing the mural on Fifth Avenue. She was caught on camera Wednesday on her knees, spreading blue paint all over the yellow mural with her hands. The mural supporting the movement for racial justice has been vandalized several times since it was painted on July 9.

Germanotta and two other women were arrested the last time the mural was painted over on July 17. The vandalism appeared to be a coordinated effort involving about 10 people. There were plans going around on social media with a group of people discussing pulling off the stunt.

When the mural was painted, Germanotta told News 4 at that time that she would come back to deface the mural. When a bystander said she would go to jail, Germanotta said, "I don't care. There's no bail." She was charged again Wednesday with criminal mischief.

For the second time in a week, vandals were caught on camera pouring paint on the Black Lives Matter mural outside Trump Tower. Ray Villeda reports.

The mural has been called by President Donald Trump as a "symbol of hate," but the words coined after the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin, a Florida teen who was shot by neighborhood watch George Zimmerman, have become a movement for racial justice.

"Our city isnt just painting the words on Fifth Avenue. Were committed to the meaning of the message," Mayor Bill de Blasio said after the mural was painted.

The mural is one of five found in each of the city's five boroughs.

Just days after it was painted - the Black Lives Matter mural in front of Trump Tower has been defaced. Jen Maxfield reports.

See more here:

Black Lives Matter Mural at Trump Tower Vandalized Again by Repeat Offender - NBC New York

On June 3, a protester tagged the outside of Imago Dei, a nondenominational church in theBuckman neighborhood, with the phrase "Black Lives Matter." The next day, staff convened online to discuss the next steps.

"Our building gets tagged all the time and we paint over it, keep it moving," says Pastor Michelle Jones. "Then a discussion just kind of happened: 'What if we kept it? What if we changed it? What if we made it art?'"

Heidie Ambrose, a staff member and artist by trade, began the process of expanding the graffiti into a sprawling mural. Each brick is marked with the name of a Blackperson who has died at the hands of systemic racism, and painted bricks are reserved for those who have died in the Portland area.

The mural is seen as a part of Imago Dei's greater ethos around race and reconciliation, which has been the subject of the church's sermons since the earliest days of the protests.

"We have to admit that throughout history, the church has been complicit in allowing injustice to flourish in this country, either by its silence or by speaking in the wrong way," says Jones. "But if we're going to own it, then we've gotta own it."

The rest is here:

Someone Tagged Black Lives Matter Outside a Church in Southeast Portland. Staff Decided to Keep Itand Turn It Into a Mural - Willamette Week

The planned mural in Manhattan provoked the ire of President Trump, who slammed the mural on Twitter as a "symbol of hate." USA TODAY

"Black Lives Matter" has been painted on streets throughout the United States, but it's now written in the surface of the Black Rock Desert.

Bureau of Land Management officials say aperson or group used a vehicle toimprint the message into the crust of the desert playa last month.

"Someone drove with a GPS and drove several times to makehuge, huge letters," said Heather O' Hanlon, spokeswoman for the BLM. "They drove several times so that it stayed imprinted."

To the naked eye, it might appear to be a mess of tire tracks, but a hobby pilot last month documented a bird's eye view of the message.

"Pure awe," said Nick Howard, of Petaluma, who was flying back from a trip to Idaho when he decided to fly over the Black Rock Desert for the first time. "How did it get there? It was done so perfectly. It was really impressive how accurate and crisp it was. I tried to figure out how and who, but there still arent any answers.You would think that if someone made the effort to make it theyd want some kind of credit."

Tire tracks can be seen in mid-July 2020 on the Black Rock Desert as part of a message that currently is inscribed in the playa crust, reading "Black Lives Matter."(Photo: Courtesy of Esteban Valle)

The message appears to be written in perfect Helvetica font about six miles out from the 12-mile entrance to the Black Rock Desert playa.

It does not appear to be placed on site of the Burning Man event, though it's nearby, according to GPS data.

"Obviously somebody made a statement, and it wasnt us," said O' Hanlon."Its unfortunate it happened on the playa, but mother nature will heal itself. It's going to be a matter of wind storms and rain storms."

Douglas County sheriff to library:Support Black Lives Matter? Don't bother calling 911

While BLM officials could not confirm the size of the text, a local Burner and member of the Washoe County Sheriff's Office search and rescue team said he drove the entirety of the message and the circle that encompasses it.

The message is four miles wide and the circle is 13 miles in circumference, according to Esteban Valle, who is also a third-year medical student and a volunteer medic at Burning Man.

"Pretty much everyone thought it was photoshopped, but then someoneposted a video from the air, and still I was skeptical," said Valle, who first saw rumor of the message on Reddit. "I was kind of bored honestly, so I decided to get my friends and drive out there and I expected not to see anything. The freakingthing was real. We actually drove the whole thing."

A pilot, Nick Howard, discovered the message "Black Lives Matter" written into the surface of the Black Rock Desert playa on July 10, 2020.(Photo: Courtesy of Nick Howard)

All together, there is 25 miles of text, Valle found after driving the whole message. Each stroke of each letter is about 50 feet wide, he added.

"Its so big that it can actually be seen on my search andrescue teams weekly updated satellite imagery feed," said Valle.

Some critics on social media have expressed frustration, calling thetire tracksvandalism of the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area.

Gerlach local and environmental advocate Laura Blaylock said she was concerned about the integrity of the playa and also the population of fairy shrimp that lay eggs on the playa and live on the playa. She believes that the people that created the message should be fined and put in community service.

She also fears it could set a precedent for inscribing other messages on the playa surface. Blaylock said it contradicts the Leave No Trace principles practiced by recreationalists on the Black Rock Desert playa.

While Burners especially practice Leave No Trace as one of their 10 principles, Valle felt like the message reflected the priorities of Burners today and considers the massive engraving artful.

Read More: The story behind the Black Lives Matter mural at Reno City Hall

Hecompared itto theNazca Lines, or large geoglyphs made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru.

"I think it's fantastic. Just going out there and seeing the incredible amount of effort. The fact that someone did it, and without credit, and then strangers found it... It's fantastic," said Valle, who's attended Burning Man for five years.

Satellite imagery shows the location of a "Black Lives Matter" message that was etched into the surface of the Black Rock Desert playa in July 2020 using tire tracks.(Photo: Courtesy of Esteban Valle)

Burning Man as an organization has been repeatedly criticized for its homogenous makeup, but Valle said that Burners were largely on board with the Black Lives Matter movement as far as he could tell. Burning Manwas canceled this year due to concerns over the novel coronavirus.

The organization said it not know who was responsible for Black Lives Matter signage.

BLM & Police: Reno-area police respond to Black Lives Matter calls for reform. Here's what they said

"It seemed like it was doneby Burners.It seems almost natural. Burning Manis a place where people express themselves radically, it's a place to build community, and this isa great way to express solidarity with the Black community and those who are mourning the death of George Floyd," said Valle.

Jenny Kane covers arts and culture in Northern Nevada, as well as the dynamic relationship between the state and the growing Burning Man community.She also covers the state's burgeoning cannabis industry (Check out her podcast, the Potcast, on iTunes.)Support her work in Reno by subscribing to RGJ.com right here.

Read or Share this story: https://www.rgj.com/story/life/arts/burning-man/2020/08/05/black-lives-matter-imprinted-black-rock-desert-reno/5540022002/

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Someone wrote 'Black Lives Matter' in the Black Rock Desert. It's 4 miles wide. - Reno Gazette Journal

The biracial couple's story went viral when they appeared at a Los Angeles protest in the wedding clothes. Now they are traveling the country, spreading positivity.

PORTLAND, Oregon A recently-married couple from Los Angeles traded their honeymoon for a cross county tour. They are calling it the "Road of Love" tour. And they just made stops in Portland and Vancouver.

It began out of a spontaneous thing that happened at the end of May, when Lara Sanders and Samuel Mekonnen ended up in their wedding clothes at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in LA.

"We accidentally drove into the protest and he said, babe you want to change the world? and I said yes," said Sanders.

And so they shared the love in Los Angeles. And now with 13-year-old son Luka helping document the trip, they're sharing the love everywhere.

"It wasn't planned or anything, but it kind of changed our life, because now we get to be on the road and we're currently on the 'Road of Love' tour and Portland/Vancouver is one of our stops," said Mekonnen.

So far the family has visited 25 cities in only three weeks, and theyve traveled 5,950 miles.

And they are meeting Black leaders in stops along the way. They met the immigrant Black mayor of Helena, Montana, and many others. In Portland they met a young entrepreneur in the design field, and in Vancouver they met a life coach and motivational speaker.

Along the way, Sanders, Mekonnen and Luka have seen that America has its troubles, but also lots of good, flourishing humanity. They are hoping others will share their positive message as well.

"Start in your family, start in your community, to say that we are all the same no matter what color, there are good people and bad people everywhere no violence please, and use your words, you have a voice," said Sanders.

"It's spreading positivity to the people and I think it's important to spread that spread the love, and love conquers all, and it penetrates through walls," said Mekonnen.

The family will be traveling south out of Portland on Thursday. They plan to eventually make a documentary and then a feature film about their experience.

Read more:

Family travels the country to spread a message of love and honor Black Lives Matter - KGW.com

Minnesota Wild's Matt Dumba takes a knee during the national anthem flanked by Edmonton Oilers' Darnell Nurse, right, and Chicago Blackhawks' Malcolm Subban before an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff game in Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020. | Jason Franson / The Canadian Press via AP

In times of desperation, you find the oddest couplings and strangest bedfellows. For Eric Trump, doing anything to support his failure-of-a-president father, it would be the National Hockey League, and unfortunately for the young Trump, it didnt turn out as expected.

But Ill get back to that later.

As we all know, COVID-19 curtailed professional sports for what seemed to be an eternity. Now as summer slowly turns to fall and we catch that occasional chill in the morning air, we can rest peacefully knowing hockey is back.

The official 2020 NHL post-season got underway Saturday, Aug. 1, and it wasnt the gameplay on center ice that captivated fans. It was Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumbas heartfelt, gut-wrenching speech against racial injustice.

With the microphone gripped tightly in his hand, Dumba walked down the red carpet, stood inside a circle at center ice, sporting a black sweatshirt emblazoned withthe Hockey Diversity Alliance, an independent organization founded this year by Black players to fight against inequality and racism in the sport.

Thanking all the fans at home and appreciating all the people making a positive difference in the world right now, Dumba quickly transitioned, and said:

During this pandemic, something unexpected but long overdue occurred. The world woke up to the existence of systematic racism and how deeply rooted it is in our society. For those unaffected by systematic racism or who are unaware, Im sure some of you believe that this topic has garnered too much attention these last couple of months. But let me assure you that it has not. Racism is a man-made creation. All it does is deteriorate from our collective prosperity. Racism is everywhere, and we need to fight against it.

On behalf of the NHL and the Hockey Diversity Alliance, we vow and promise to stand up for justice and fight for what is right. I know first-hand, as a minority playing the great game of hockey, the unexplainable and difficult challenges that come with it. The Hockey Diversity Alliance and the NHL want kids to feel safe, comfortable, and free-minded every time they enter the arena.

Dumba closed his statement by mentioning the Black Lives Matter movement and Breonna Taylor, a woman who was killed in her home by police in Louisville, Ky., on March 13.

He added: I hope this inspires a new generation of hockey players and hockey fans. Because Black Lives Matter. Breonna Taylors life matters. Hockey is a great game. But it could be a whole lot greater. And it starts with all of us.

And then, as the national anthem, blared from the arena speakers, Dumba took a kneethe first knee-taking in professional hockey. He was flanked by support from Chicago Blackhawks Malcolm Subban and Edmonton Oilers Darnell Nurse.

Oh, and this is where Eric Trump comes into play. Only a few days before the official opener, Trump tweeted his support for NHL players standing during the national anthemthinking in hockey the Trump regime had an ally They didnt.

Former NHL player Akim Aliu put itsimply: Yo, real talk @erictrump, youre the last guy the NHL and the hockey world want support from. Its not real patriotism if youre using it to divide us.

And if you scroll down far enough through the comments, you can see hockey fans from everywhere posing pics of them taking a knee, a form of at-home demonstrating.

Following last Saturdays historic moment, players from the Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars all knelt on the ice before their Monday, Aug. 3 game in Edmonton, Alberta, in support of Black Likes Matter.

Dallas forward Tyler Sequin and Jason Dickinson knelt alongside Vegas forward Ryan Reaves and goaltender Robin Lehnerduring the American and Canadian national anthems.

Again and again, as this nation reflects upon systemic racism and police brutality, past and present, we can only hope that these overtures by the major leagues will lead to real change. There is certainly plenty of room for improvement in hockey.

Continued here:

Black Lives Matter takes center ice in a historic moment for the NHL - People's World

Street signs for the recently renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC, near the White ... [+] House.

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has gained momentum and an increased cognizance in our collective consciousness due to recent events, most notably the death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis. That momentum has led to protests in the United States and abroad. As we collectively reflect on these issues, I have found that conversations with Black colleagues and friends often yield some of the most poignant insights.

I reached out to four Black executives to understand how they have processed recent events and how we might turn so many corrosive events into definitive progress. The four executives are Ted Colbert, once the Chief Information Officer of Boeing, and now the President and Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Global Services; Kimberly Johnson, the Chief Operating Officer of Fannie Mae; Daphne Jones, a former CIO at GE and Hospira and now a board member at multiple publicly traded companies; and Adam Stanley, the Global CIO and Chief Digital Officer of Cushman & Wakefield. Each of these executives has found success in their respective career, but I was less familiar with the circumstances of the paths each took to their august perches in their corporations.

Daphne Jones, Kimberly Johnson, Ted Colbert, and Adam Stanley (clockwise from top left)

Our conversations broadly took the following shape:

Reflections on the Death of George Floyd

I began my conversation with each with some general reflections on the passing of George Floyd as the catalyst for the protests in many cities around the world since. Colbert noted that Floyds death is a tragedy, and has been a cause for reflection on everything from the impact on his children to Corporate America.

Johnson echoed similar sentiments, adding that the ongoing pandemic is also playing a role. We are experiencing a social justice movement at the same time that we're trying to weather a global pandemic that's having very disparate outcomes on our communities of color, she said. I think that's been a real eye opener. People are just beginning to realize these things are all connected and related.

Jones mentioned that the fact that many people are at home and not traveling has created more time for some to process what is going on. Others who perhaps were no longer employed due to layoffs may also have had more time to internalize the moment. This scenario allowed people to hear what BLM was all about. When Ahmaud [Arbery], Breonna [Taylor], and all the similar stories came up, people started connecting the dots, said Jones. Without COVID, we wouldnt see people in the streets because they would all have had to go to work the next day.

Colbert noted that, Black folks have been screaming about this for decades. It's unfortunate that a man having someone have their knee on his neck for eight and a half minutes has now opened up the ears and eyes of corporate institutions to realize that, indeed something is fundamentally wrong with the way that that Black people have been treated over many, many years. He suggested that if that is the what catalyzes change, then perhaps some good can come from this, though he understandably rued the fact that it required lives be lost to do so.

Stanley said that the phraseology of Black Lives Matter is important for all people to internalize. The truth is that since the writing of the Constitution, we have not really given everyone the right to matter, he said. Women, people of color, Native Americans, have never really had the same rights in work and life. And George Floyd is but one of the issues facing Black men in America that do not impact others.

Black Representation in IT

As each leader currently or in the past has had IT report up to them, I asked for their thoughts on the paucity of Black representatives in technology divisions of major companies. My interlocutors noted that the problem is equally one of a lack of role models and sub-optimal mentoring. Colbert mentioned that stereotypes of tech-centric kids in popular culture rarely includes Black children. In not seeing someone who looks like you in a role, it can easily seem out of reach. As a teenager on a Commodore 64 in my bedroom with the first generation of hip-hop music playing in the background, that was me. But you would never ever see that in written format anywhere.

Stanley noted that including children in conversations about technology needs to start as early as pre-school. Part of the problem is that IT professionals love to talk tech in ways that are frankly intimidating, he said. For me, I have the unique benefit of not really being very technical. So, I can only talk in terms of problem solving and solution development.

Despite a lack of mentors generally, Jones credits two among others for helping her rise. She noted Roscoe Adams, a Black man running an IBM office in Peoria, Illinois. He taught her a lot about business, how to collaborate with others, the say/do ratio, and that I should never say when I get around to it. Set goals and stick to them or renegotiate. She also credits her mother for setting a high standard for her. Due to early education efforts, Jones was able to skip first grade, and eventually two years of college, earning bachelors and masters degrees in four years. She was my biggest fan and toughest critic, said Jones. I learned tough love and how not to accept the status quo.

Stanley noted a number of people who influenced the jobs he has held, from the first partners at Deloitte who decided to take a chance on him to the senior banking executive that eventually hired him, and a headhunter who helped place him in new positions. What has been critical to my success is the transition of all of these people from finder to boss to mentor to sponsor to friend and advisor, said Stanley. This is missing for many men of color in particular.

For Colbert, it was Marvin Adams, the former CIO of Ford. He pushed Colberts ambition by asking him, When do you want to become a CIO? Colbert had not been thinking about it, but the idea stuck. Marvin is an example, said Colbert. And there were many before him that planted a seed in my mind about the possibilities that I hadn't even imagined for myself.

Making Progress in the Workplace

I asked each about the advice that they would offer others on how to combat racism in the workplace and in society. Jones noted that it is important to openly acknowledge that racism exists and that unfair and dangerous things happen to Black people every day. She recommends engaging ones family, ones friends and ones company in conversations about these issues. She emphasized the need to go from being racist or not racist to being anti-racist.

Stanley suggested that meetings you take at the office could be used to draw conclusions about progress or a lack thereof. Look at the table around you in every meeting and assess who is there, he said. Do they all look and sound the same as you? If so, do something about that. Question whether the meeting would be better off with someone from a different background that might add a new perspective or style.

Johnson suggested a formula from Frances Frei of Harvard Business School, who preaches logic, authenticity and empathy as key drivers of trust. In her own interpretation of Freis framework, Johnson noted, If you're trying to create a culture of trust in a company, you have to start with logic, and logic is all about understanding facts and data and history, right? We hear a lot around Black history these days, but Black history is American history.

She noted that authenticity is the most difficult to achieve because talking about race relations is uncomfortable, but she stressed, If we're going to make any progress on this front, we're going to have to be a little bit uncomfortable. The first two factors aid the third, empathy. On this topic, she offered a note of optimism. That's the thing that I've seen change more than anything else in the last three months. I think it's gone a really long way in sort of bringing the national dialogue on race relations up a level.

Technologys Role in Driving Positive Change

Regarding the role that technology can play, Stanley offered that better screening tools can help alleviate unconscious bias in the hiring process. Studies continue to show that Jason Smith gets more interviews than Latasha Smith, regardless of background, he said. That has to change. The more we can do the first, second and third rounds of the selection process using intelligence, the more we can remove some of the bias.

Jones echoed Stanleys sentiment of leveraging technology to remove bias from hiring. She also said that the use of data analytics could help identify wage inequities across companies, as well as reveal trends in hiring, tenure and firing data for Black people relative to those of other races.

Johnson mentioned that technology has been a key ingredient in awakening people to both the current and ongoing set of issues in our country. Technology can broaden horizons, generate power for convening, she said. I think access to technologies are really important concepts that we all need to pay attention to in terms of equality. But I love the idea that technology can amplify new ideas and quickly generate scale and acceptance.

Making Progress

Lastly, I asked each executive if they have found any silver linings to the current situation. Stanley is encouraged by the quantity and quality of dialogue around race relations and issues. We have a long way to go but smart people are engaging at levels never before seen, he said. The hope is that after the politicians and CEOs stop pandering and posing for photos with Black people, these smart people continue to talk.

Jones believes humanity is shining through during these trying times. Theres an awakening going on, and we need to gently feed it so it doesnt run away, she said. She noted that she has seen positive changes at the multiple companies whose boards she serves on. Whereas in the past companies might have champions for diversity within the company, she sees further evidence that CEOs are not passing the responsibility to others. CEOs and their boards are owning it, not delegating it our outsourcing it, she said.

Johnson is encouraged that peoples mindsets are changing from one of seeing racism as a character flaw in individuals to something ingrained in a system based on historical norms. The concept of anti-racism is gaining traction, she said. And I think that is really encouraging because the more people who embrace that mindset, the more hope I have that we can live up to our American ideals.

What is perhaps most encouraging of all is the role leaders like these four extraordinary executives can play in highlighting the paths that they walked. Colbert refers to the path he took as a unicorn situation. He hopes that it will become more common in the future, and he is doing all he can to make that so. Hopefully that changes and it doesn't take one being a unicorn to be a Black person and make it to the C-suite of a Fortune 100 company in the future.

Peter Highis President ofMetis Strategy, abusiness and IT advisory firm. His has written two bestselling books, moderates theTechnovationpodcast series, and speaks at conferences around the world. Follow himon Twitter@PeterAHigh.

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Technologys Role In Driving Progress In Black Lives Matter - Forbes

Your necessary airing of the views of young black Britons (Young, British and Black, 29 July) raises vital questions. What is important is what can be done to make their lives better. I have two adopted African-Caribbean children and have regularly discussed their experiences with them and I have found that authorities are supportive if problems are drawn to their attention.

My son was bullied by older children on his way home from primary school. When we took this up with the head, action was so effective that it stopped instantly. At secondary school a teacher used a racist insult and, instead of discussing it with us, my son wrote to the county education authorities, who contacted the school and the teacher was disciplined (he was later sacked for hitting a pupil).

Later, my sons only problems have been in London, where he was stopped too many times by the police. He has experienced no obvious racism at work, where he has been successful (but its not possible to tell if there has been any underlying prejudice).

It is clear that there are some overtly racist people in the police and elsewhere in authority, but the more universal problem is unconscious bias. Workplace training is essential and, importantly, should include tests to demonstrate to individuals how their underlying attitudes affect their responses to black people.Name and address supplied

The most disturbing aspect of the interviews with young black people is the reported amount of racism in schools. It is understandable, if wrong, that so many white children first learn racial prejudice from their parents. But it is unacceptable that so many teachers are allowing this to persist in their schools. Education is precisely the forum in which the elimination of racism should start. This issue should be fully covered in teacher training. Headteachers should make anti-racism part of their schools ethics. Teachers who do not comply should be removed.Robin WendtChester

The young voices in your special report are dignified, defiant and moving. The bullying experienced from a very young age shames white culture at every level. Jimmy McGoverns TV film Anthony is a tragic exposure of what racism can lead to. We all need to see it.John AirsLiverpool

Continued here:

Listen to the young voices of the Black Lives Matter movement - The Guardian

When a group of USC athletes announced the formation of the United Black Student-Athletes Association in June and called for systemic changes within the athletic department, Julie Rousseau, an adjunct professor at the university, thought to herself, Good for them.

Rousseau had taught several of the student-athletes involved in her identity development of the contemporary female class. She knew the task ahead of them was a challenging one, but she admired their determination.

Little did she know, shed soon be tasked with finding the best ways to implement the UBSAAs action items.

On Tuesday, Rousseau was named the chair of the new Black Lives Matter Action Team at USC. She recognizes it as a daunting task, but the work is kindred in spirit to what Rousseau has dedicated much of her life to learning about.

Im just humbled, truly humbled, by this opportunity, Rousseau said, but also very eager to do something that hopefully has lasting impact.

Rousseau herself was a student-athlete, spending two years on the womens basketball team at UC Irvine. She had come from a family that always encouraged her in sports, whether it was playing basketball against her older brothers or being the only girl on an all-boys baseball team.

I had not encountered any discrimination until I got to college, Rousseau said, noting she was one of two Black women on the team. Being at a predominantly white institution where you just feel like you dont want to be seen. Your voice is diminished because you know youre one of a few. Its imperceptible.

After school, Rousseau gravitated to coaching. She was part of the Sparks inaugural coaching staff before serving as an assistant at Stanford. Then, she spent nine seasons at the head coach for the Pepperdine womens team.

This coaching experience helped inspire her dissertation for her doctorate degree in human systems engineering at Arizona State.

The premise of the dissertation was to study the stresses that face coaches and how those differ along racial and gender lines. All coaches, naturally, felt some form of stress. White men felt the pressure to be the face of the program. White women felt pressure to be a mother when they got home from work.

Black coaches dealt with both of those stressors, but also ones that were unique to their positions: If I dont do my job well, will I get another opportunity? If I dont do my job well, will that be held against future Black coaches? And how do I prepare my student-athletes, especially Black student-athletes, for the challenges of the world?

Youre knowing that youre one of a few that have an opportunity, Rousseau explained. Im bringing in not just me but my entire race.

These experiences will guide Rousseau as she tries to bring change to USC. Student-athletes and coaches form part an advisory committee that will help her team know if it is on the right track to implementing the changes that athletic director Mike Bohn has tasked her with identifying.

The action team will use the recommendations of the UBSAA as their starting point, recommendations that include creating a more diverse workforce within the USC athletic department

Were really trying to listen and learn, make the assessment, Rousseau said. What my experience was, was being one of a few and silenced. And I think this speaks to the power of a united voice.

And the thing that I am hearing more and more through the conversations that Im having, she continued, is weve been wanting to do something like this for a long time. For me that says, Oh my God, what a responsibility. I dont walk into this lightly at all. But Im not alone.

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Experience prepared Julie Rousseau to lead USCs Black Lives Matter Action Team - OCRegister

Oregon artists will have the opportunity to share their creative visions of the Black Lives Matter movement through a new grant program established by Jordan Schnitzer in partnership with the University of Oregons Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and the Lyllye Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center.

The museums Artist Grant Program in Response to Black Lives Matter will distribute $2,500 grants to 20 artists across Oregon, excluding Multnomah, Clackamas, Columbia and Washington counties. Artists will be asked to use their voices, experiences and artistic expression to reflect on social justice efforts in response to systemic racism.

I have often said artists are chroniclers of our time. We all feel anguish about the death of George Floyd and many others at the hands of racial oppression, said Schnitzer, president of The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. We, more than ever, need artists to help us understand this issue and help us heal.

The call for grant applications is part of a broader $150,000 effort funded by Schnitzer that funds a total of 60 grants across two states. Jordan Schnitzer museums of art at Washington State University and Portland State University will also administer grant programs. Oregon artists from Multnomah, Clackamas, Columbia and Washington counties will apply to the PSU program.

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the UO will work in partnership with the Lyllye-Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center to determine grant recipients in Oregon, excluding Multnomah, Clackamas, Columbia and Washington counties, responding to the Black Lives Matter movement. The Artist Grant Program is funded through a generous donation of $50,000 from The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation.

We believe museums and cultural centers have a responsibility to educate and teach from an anti-racist and equity lens through our cultural and education programs, and to amplify the voices of artists engaging in this critical work, said John Weber, the UO museums executive director. I want to thank Jordan for establishing this program. When words are not enough, art can move people to change. Art can be a powerful tool for social justice. We need to do more, we can and we must. The museum stands in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.

Artists residing in Oregon, excluding Multnomah, Clackamas, Columbia and Washington counties, are encouraged to submit proposals for new work or projects or recently created work directly responding to the current Black Lives Matter movement;responding to marginalized communities; experiences with systemic racism and inequality; and artists whose work thematically connects to those experiences. Artists working in all mediums are invited to apply.

Interested artists should submit their applications no later than Sept. 30. Submission instructions are on the art museums website.

Artist submissions will be reviewed by a panel that will include Weber; Aris Hall, coordinator of the Lyllye Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center; Sabrina Madison-Cannon, Phyllis and Andrew Berwick Dean of the School of Music and Dance; Jamar Bean, program director at the Multicultural Center; and Jovencio de la Paz, an assistant professor in the Department of Art. Grantees will be notified by Oct. 31.

This grant provided by Jordan Schnitzer will allow for artists to display the pain and hurt that is felt within the Black community and mark a time in history that will forever remind the UO and Eugene-Springfield community of the importance to why Black Lives Matter, Hall said. Lyllye Reynolds-Parker embodies what activism in our community is, and the works of art will be an ongoing display of activism for the Black community.

The exhibition history at the UOs Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art includes Carrie Mae Weems The Usual Suspects and a companion exhibition to the universitys common reading of Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me. The latter featured contemporary artists Mark Bradford, Theaster Gates, Mildred Howard, Chris Johnson, Rashid Johnson, Glenn Ligon, Hank Willis Thomas, Kara Walker and Kehinde Wiley.

In 2014, the museum exhibited Emancipating the Past: Kara Walkers Tales of Slavery and Power from the Collections of Jordan Schnitzer and His Family Foundation. Other exhibitions from Jordan D. Schnitzer and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation collections featuring artists of color include Mirror, Mirror: The Prints of Alison Saar, Beyond Mammy, Jezebel & Sapphire: Reclaiming Images of Black Women, Second Look, Twice; Social Space, and Witness: Themes of Social Justice in Contemporary Printmaking and Photography.

The museums Artist Grant Program in response to Black Lives Matter is made possible by the generous donation from the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, which is committed to fostering greater equity, inclusion and diversity in the Northwest.

By Debbie Williamson Smith, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

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Grants offered to artists responding to Black Lives Matter - AroundtheO

WORCESTER - The work of 17 local artists who contributed their time, talent and support to the Black Lives Matter mural on Major Taylor Boulevard will be featured in an ArtsWorcester exhibition called Beyond the Paint.

Beyond the Paint will be on view from Aug. 14 to Sept. 13 in the North Corridor, directly next to ArtsWorcesters main galleries, at 44 Portland St.

A team of artists and hundreds of volunteers painted the Black Lives Matter mural on the pavement near the DCU Center on July 15. Each letter in the slogan has a unique design.

The exhibit is really to highlight the artists that helped with the mural, said Em Quiles, president of PaLante Latinx Moving Forward, a co-organizer of the Black Lives Matter mural, and the curator of the exhibit. When we organized the Black Lives Matter mural, we assigned one artist per letter, and each artist came up with their own design, and a lot of volunteers came out to help them bring their vision to life. Among those volunteers were artists, so this exhibit is to showcase those artists who helped the lead artists do their letters.

Seventeen items, one from each artist, will be showcased in the exhibit. Quiles said Monday that she didnt yet have specifics about the mediums.

The Black Lives Matter mural is a powerful artwork made by many artists working in solidarity, and this partnership is a way for us to thank them for their gift to this city, said Juliet Feibel, executive director of ArtsWorcester, in a news release. The anti-racism of the Black Lives Matter movement challenges ArtsWorcester to be more intentional about how we reach and work with artists, and we thank Ms. Quiles for the opportunity to do so.

The artists featured in Beyond the Paint are Amora Andino, Mr. Boom, Jennessa Burks, Joshua Croke, Slim Dawg, Narvicto DeJesus, Brian Denahy, Fogger, Alexandria Marie, Olivia Melendez, Emma Mesa-Melendez, Arli Ortiz, Edmy Ortiz, Jailene Ramos, Edgardo Rodriguez, Laura Steinman and Amber Totorelli.

We wanted to really highlight their experiences and what it meant to them to be part of such a historic event here in Worcester, Quiles said, and what it meant for them not only to be part of the mural, but of the whole Black Lives Matter movement as an artist.

Also, Quiles continued, this exhibit is going to help with ArtsWorcester and build the bridges, the relationships, with local artists. The majority of the lead artists for the mural were Black and the majority of the supporting artists were Latino, so when working with ArtsWorcester we wanted to make sure Black and brown artists have a space in their galleries as well and they feel welcomed. This is a way for them to get their feet wet with the gallery and for ArtsWorcester to show their appreciation for these artists.

All visitors to ArtsWorcester must wear masks. No appointments are required, but only five people are allowed to be in the North Corridor at any one time. ArtsWorcester gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m., Thursday through Sunday.

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Beyond the Paint in Worcester to showcase Black Lives Matter mural artists - Worcester Telegram

Last Wednesday, the Wall of Moms Facebook group descended into chaos. One woman said a group of Black moms was left unprotected at a rally in downtown Portland, Oregon. Another claimed that group leader Bev Barnum had co-opted Black Lives Matter for her own gain. There were endless threads of comments from women disappointed that the protest group made up of mothers and grandmothers who had gained international recognition for standing on the front line of the citys protests seemed to have lost its way.

The Wall of Moms, at least the original version, was collapsing. It had lasted for all of 10 days.

When the group assembled on July 18 through a call to action from Barnum on Facebook, the mission was simple: Be physically present for Black lives. Last month, federal agents descended on the city to protect federal buildings, which only intensified the protests that have been ongoing since the police killing of George Floyd. Portland mothers, most of them non-Black, were called on to act as a shield against the tear gas and excessive force that police officers used to terrorize protesters.

But by the middle of last week, many of the mothers in the private Wall of Moms Facebook group, which had garnered nearly 20,000 members, were questioning the direction of the organization, disappointed that it no longer seemed to center Black lives. A number of the moms accused Barnum, who is Mexican American, of only being interested in pressuring federal troops to leave Portland, not in the greater issue of justice for Black lives; Barnum had tried to register Wall of Moms as a business without the approval of fellow Black leaders. (Barnum has not responded to Voxs request for comment.)

In response, longtime activist Teressa Raiford, who had been providing guidance to Wall of Moms and is the founder of the nonprofit Dont Shoot Portland along with two other Black mothers and activists, Demetria Hester and Danialle James organized under another group: Mothers United for Black Lives. The new group has made it clear that its mission is to address the problems plaguing Portlands Black communities, like the number of Black teens recently slain, the damage done by the coronavirus, and a police department that reportedly isnt working to investigate gun violence.

We are fighting for liberation, but [Barnum] ended up using Black bodies when she centered herself as an individual and incorporated the Wall of Moms through three agencies. That is violence and doesnt liberate Black people, Raiford told Vox.

Raiford, who started Dont Shoot Portland in 2016 after police arrested her amid the Michael Brown uprisings, was careful to explain that many if not most of the moms in the group have not tried to co-opt the movement.

However, the Wall of Moms is ultimately a cautionary tale of what happens when Black people arent centered in a movement thats about the fight for their lives: People who are interested in getting involved must realize that they have to take directives from Black leaders and show up through the mutual aid response system, Raiford said. That means creating not just a wall of bodies but a wall of resources, financial and otherwise, to bolster activists who will put their lives on the line long after Portland is out of the national spotlight.

Wall of Moms began as a response to the federal law enforcement officers who began patrolling the streets of Portland in early July, forcibly snatching anti-racism protesters off the street and detaining them in unmarked vehicles. The incidents, sometimes recorded on video, caused much confusion across the country before the Trump administration announced that it had deployed officers from Border Patrol and other agencies to protect federal buildings amid ongoing protests.

As Voxs Alex Ward reported, Trump administration officials defended the aggressive tactics, claiming they were necessary to dispel protests led by a violent mob of lawless anarchists. But demonstrators, who had been on the streets protesting for Black lives for more than 50 days, recognized the presence of the federal officers as a further impingement on their civil liberties. Portlanders, many of whom had never protested before, took to the streets to push back against the federal troops. It was during this moment that the Wall of Moms was born.

By July 19, a group of a few dozen mothers, most of them white and wearing white, were seen being tear-gassed by federal officers.

By July 21, the group of mothers would grow to include thousands of women who showed up at downtown protests clad in yellow shirts and masks, helmets, and goggles, and carrying yellow roses and sunflowers. In videos, the women can be seen marching toward Portlands Justice Center chanting in favor of Black Lives Matter. In one early video of the group, the women proclaimed, No cops, no KKK, no racist USA.

Around the same time, news stories poured out with headlines that read Wall of Moms shields protesters from federal agents in Portland and Wall of Moms Protects Portland BLM Protesters, with photos that showed overwhelmingly non-Black women standing in formation linked by the arms. Many of the stories characterized the women as selfless citizens who were eager to stand up and use their bodies to protect the less privileged. Stories characterized the activation as novel, something that would really send a fresh message to the Trump administration.

While most of the mothers were well-intentioned, critics were quick to point out how the women managed to gain international acclaim because of the very privilege they were able to exercise while out on the front lines: whiteness. While whiteness was part of the tactic of getting noticed many of the mothers were aware that their white bodies would yield attention and were intentional about their positioning at the protests Black mothers, who have been losing their children to police violence at an alarming rate for decades, have received little attention for their activism.

Keisha N. Blain, an associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh, told Vox there are many factors that go into what images capture the publics interest and attention during social unrest and that it is not uncommon for white activists to receive greater attention for their work, particularly in Black spaces.

Because many people are still struggling to get people to accept Black Lives Matter, the media often privileges the appearance of white protesters in these spaces. Part of this has to do with the perceived novelty of white participation, Blain told Vox. We must also acknowledge that anti-Black racism helps to explain why members of the general public are often more enthralled with white activists in social justice movements even when Black people are at the forefront of these movements. We should also be mindful of the way the media fuels these racist narratives when journalists choose to focus on the efforts of some and not others.

According to Blain, groups like Mothers of the Movement, a collective of Black moms whose children have been killed by police officers or by gun violence, are constantly pursuing this work but dont receive the same kind of visibility and certainly not for a sustained period of time. In Chicago, for example, Black moms formed Mothers/Men Against Senseless Killings in 2015 to build community through violence prevention and other measures like food security and housing, but have not received the national attention in five years that Wall of Moms did in 10 days.

Wall of Moms organizer Barnum, meanwhile, seemed more interested in marketing the group (at one protest, she told the women to get on their knees for a photo, according to Demetria Hester, a mom leading Moms United for Black Lives; Barnum was also called out for doing too many interviews and not passing the mic to women like Raiford) than solely focusing on Black Lives Matter. Despite publicly announcing that the groups administration would cede control to Black moms on July 24, five days later, Barnum had announced in the group that Wall of Moms was now a 501(c)3 and would be partnering with leaders across the nation.

Backlash against Barnum was quick, with moms alleging that she co-opted Black Lives Matter for her own profit. Many called on her to step down immediately. In response, Barnum wrote that she didnt intend to hurt anyone, and that the group will be led by a board made up of Black, Indigenous, and people of color and a BIPOC advisory committee. However, WOM is a group that supports BLM, but it is not a BLM group, she wrote. If that is not good enough for you, please feel free to leave this group. And if you currently volunteer your time, feel free to leave your positions. Again, I am so sorry the 501c3 hurt some of you.

A number of moms in the group immediately said they were out, citing dissatisfaction with how non-Black women failed to listen to Black leaders. The groups impromptu communications director, Emma Pattee, when explaining her reason for stepping away, wrote in a Facebook post:

I have been working 20 hours a day for nearly two weeks, unpaid, and going out at night to protest leaving an infant at home because I was under the impression we were in support of Black Lives Matter, and that Black leadership would be brought in ASAP. It has become clear that that is not the plan for Wall of Moms and so I can no longer volunteer my time here and need to find other ways to support BLM. True racial equity depends on non-Black people relinquishing power and control.

That day, as Wall of Mom chapters launched in cities including Los Angeles and Chicago, Black organizers unveiled Moms United for Black Lives, a space that would keep Black Lives Matter at the forefront and direct the thousands of moms on how to best leverage their privilege. Organizer Danialle James welcomed the moms to the new group with a message: Hi, everyone Thanks for coming over. This is a trying time. I encourage you all to keep your chins up, stay steadfast and moving forward. Be the change you wish to seek. Love to you all.

The private Facebook group for Moms United for Black Lives grew quickly as women abandoned Wall of Moms. The page has almost 12,000 followers and is very active with moms sharing resources for safety, protest locations, and grim stories about the latest Portland killings. Meanwhile, the Wall of Moms Facebook group is still up, though posts are mostly to clear up misinformation and offer articles about effective allyship.

Blain noted that this kind of fallout is not uncommon with social movements that have advocated for equity. With the Womens March, for example, organizers were called out for how it excluded women of color and initially boasted an agenda that largely advanced the goals of cisgender white women. The founders eventually needed to cede the floor to women of color and broaden its objectives to support intersectionality. Meanwhile, with Black Lives Matter, early coverage of the movement hardly mentioned that it was founded by three Black women.

Whenever money enters into social movements, it can cause all sorts of tension, Blain said. And with Wall of Moms, in particular, she said that multiracial organizing can only work effectively when there is clear communication and full transparency. Without communication and transparency, perceptions of anti-Black behavior whether they are intentional or not can bubble up to the surface and undermine the work.

In other words, for there to be progress, all leaders, especially those organizing across racial lines, must be on the same page about the movements objectives.

Once the media cameras focused their lenses on the line of white mothers and grandmothers, Raiford knew it could jeopardize the kind of infrastructure that she and other Portland activists had been establishing for years. More worrisome was the fact that no one was talking about what was truly impacting Portlands Black communities from killings that were going uninvestigated to the coronavirus that was getting residents evicted to poverty that prevented students from participating in school due to a lack of technology. In the predominantly white city less than 6 percent of the population is Black the inequities facing Black communities and other communities of color are often overlooked.

While there are people at the protests getting hit with rubber bullets and theyre getting banged on with the tear gas, weve been getting murdered in our communities and there is literally zero response, Raiford said. In our community since July 1, weve had over 40 shootings.

Raiford has been calling for action in the case of 18-year-old ShaiIndia Harris, a recent high school graduate who was fatally shot in broad daylight on July 10; police recently named a suspect in the case. According to the Oregonian, Harriss death is one of 15 reported homicides in Portland in July, which recorded the highest rate of homicide in more than 30 years. Last week, 32-year-old Black trans woman Aja Raquell Rhone-Spears was fatally stabbed at a vigil for Tyrell Penney, who was recently killed in a shooting.

Raiford sees the collective of moms as a welcome addition to the movement but wants leaders to proceed with transparency, accountability, and deference to the mothers who laid the groundwork. Mutual aid through the ambitious movement of the moms, and having them cater to the needs of our community by sharing Cash App, setting up vigils, ordering flowers, or Postmating these are the resources and things that Black families literally cannot get or do because of inequity, not having money to sustain this movement during the coronavirus crisis, she said.

Hester, a mom leading Moms United for Black Lives, says shes protested every day for the past two months in an effort to dismantle a generational cycle of inequity thats affected her family and Portlands Black communities. In 2017, Hester was attacked by white supremacist Jeremy Christian, who was recently sentenced to life in prison for fatally stabbing two people and injuring another on the MAX train. The day before the murders, Christian had assaulted Hester on the train. The incident has left Hester traumatized but invigorated to fight for justice.

That is what brought me to this revolution, Hester told Vox. We need strong Black people in charge of these movements. Were making our own team of people that we can trust and know are for the cause. And the moms are finding their niche of how to help because there are different ways that white people can help but they dont yet know it, whether its fundraising or using their connections to order computers for Black kids so they can have computers.

As far as how long the moms will keep organizing, Hester says theres no deadline: until we get everything we want.

Right now, Moms United for Black Lives is keeping busy with members answering the calls of Black mothers in need and building a supply chain to provide gear and supplies for activists who are protesting. And theyre still showing up at protests to hold the line and chant, following Hesters lead. Once Black communities are on point, we need to teach other countries to do the same thing for Black communities, as other cities across the country are already on it, Hester said. Its about uniting.

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Portlands Wall of Moms is now Moms United for Black Lives - Vox.com

In 2016, the writer and lawyer Michelle Alexander said the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, would come to be seen as a critical turning point. If it winds up not being a turning point, it will be because we did not do our job.

Nearly two months on since the death of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter has become one of the largest demonstrations in history, but it is still not clear whether a turning point has been reached.

If I have one reason to be optimistic, it is that hundreds of people have written to me asking: what can I do? There is a renewed awareness of racial disproportionality in criminal justice systems, a subject Alexander explores in The New Jim Crow. She makes a chilling comparison between the Jim Crow laws in the United States following the civil war, which segregated the newly emancipated black population, and the countrys system of mass incarceration today, in which one in three black men are sent to prison.

The US is often cited as the centre of racial injustice, but the relationship between criminal justice and racial injustice is global. Edited by Justin Healey, Indigenous People and Criminal Justice examines the disproportionality of indigenous imprisonment in Australia. Healeys research is a vital piece of work on decolonising a criminal justice system in which the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island population account for 27% of Australias prisoners, despite making up less than 3% of the total population.

During the coronavirus crisis, prisoners have been subject to an emergency lockdown regime that has seen offenders in England and Wales spending 23 hours a day in their cells, without access to education, rehabilitation or visits. Measures to limit the spread of Covid-19 are vital, but without a comprehensive plan to relax these extreme policies, prisons could start to resemble Bleak House. Charles Dickens published the first instalment of this satirical portrait of a decaying British judicial system in 1852. Today, Bleak House reads less like satire and more like an omen. After cuts to the Ministry of Justice of a quarter in real terms over the past decade, our outdated system is starting to look dystopian even by Dickensian standards.

As cuts deepen, the backlog of criminal cases grows, leaving defendants sitting in their cells waiting for a trial. Defendants such as Walter McMillian, who was sentenced to death in Alabama in 1988 for killing a white woman, serving six years before his conviction was overturned. In his powerful memoir, Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson tells McMillians story and recalls his own struggles against injustice as a young lawyer. Thankfully, we do not have the death penalty in the UK. But our backlog of 41,000 criminal cases means some people are being held on remand for an even longer period than they would serve if convicted of their alleged offence.

Our system is creaking because its foundations have been weakened by a decade of underfunding. In The Secret Barrister, an anonymous criminal advocate exposes deep faults in our legal system. As a former barrister myself, I know that junior professionals working on legal aid cases come from a variety of backgrounds, and often work in impossible conditions. If we fail to support these people, we fail to support those who rely on them the most. In the wake of Black Lives Matter, no prizes will be awarded for guessing which defendants, victims and communities will end up paying the price.

Tribes by David Lammy is published by Constable (20). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

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From Black Lives Matter to Bleak House: David Lammy picks the best books about justice - The Guardian

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Mayor Bill de Blasio appears to not have gone through the citys application process for street art when he commissioned Black Lives Matter street murals across the city but is asking groups wishing to paint messages of their own on city streets to do so.

De Blasio previously indicated he would not allow Blue Lives Matter and other groups to paint similar messages on city streets.

And City Hall also confirmed it would specifically not allow pro-police group Blue Lives Matter to paint their message near the NYPD headquarters.

However, de Blasio walked back his decision Monday, claiming he never said no to people, only that there is a process for applying.

What I decided to do with the Black Lives Matter murals ... this came out of a meeting at Gracie Mansion weeks ago with community leaders and activists who said this would be such an important thing for this city to declare officially, that is something again, transcends all normal realities because we are in a moment of history where this had to be said and done, de Blasio told reporters during a press conference with reporters Monday.

Thats a decision I made, but the normal process continues for anyone who wants to apply, he said.

Last month, de Blasio announced the city would paint Black Lives Matter street murals in every borough and rename streets to match the message on the heels of nationwide racial injustice protests following the death of George Floyd.

But his decision opened him up to scrutiny when he prevented others from painting messages of their own on city streets. His administration said groups would need to submit a Department of Transportation application in order for their public art request to be considered.

Civil liberties lawyer Norman Siegel, who previously served as the head of the New York Civil Liberties Union, told the Advance/SiLive.com that once the government allows one message on a public street theyre opening the door for other groups or individuals to want the same equal right.

Siegel also pointed out that it becomes problematic if the mayor did not submit an application to paint his Black Lives Matter street murals but is asking other groups to apply.

If you have a position that no expression [can be] on the public streets, thats one thing, but the government cant pick and choose which messages, which expression they approve of and which they reject based on the content of the message, Siegel said.

De Blasio said he would not allow police advocacy group Blue Lives Matter to paint their own message near the NYPD headquarters, prompting the group to threaten to sue the city to allow them to do so.

A conservative womens group has sued the city for blocking them from painting a mural of their slogan Engaging, Inspiring and Empowering Women to Make a Difference! the New York Post reported.

And the city recently sent Staten Island artist Scott LoBaido a cease and desist letter asking him to remove a bright blue line he painted along a divider on Hylan Boulevard outside of the 122nd precinct or face getting hit with summonses or legal actions.

LoBaido painted the line without city approval, arguing the mayor never got a permit to do that street art, so I guess its fair game.

City Hall and DOT had repeatedly avoided elaborating on its criteria for approving public street art and whether the mayor submitted an application before he proceeded with his street murals

Asked to elaborate on its approval process Monday, DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg was vague about the departments criteria.

Anyone can apply through our public art program but I think as the mayor has said the city does have discretion on those projects, Trottenberg said.

Officials In Redwood City, California ran into a similar problem when they allowed a local resident to paint Black Lives Matter on a downtown street.

The city decided to wash the street mural away after being contacted by a local real estate attorney who asked to paint MAGA 2020 on a street, KPIX reported.

The attorney argued that the street was now a public forum.

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De Blasio didnt submit application for Black Lives Matter street murals but asks others to apply - SILive.com

As the newest Wife on The Real Housewives of Potomac, Wendy Osefo is bringing her incredibly impressive professional background to Season 5. The RHOP newcomer is a professor, political analyst, entrepreneur, and a mother. Wendy is also a philanthropist who has been advocating for the Black Lives Matter movement for years, which she recently discussed in an interview with The Washington Post.

Noting that the entire cast is very aware of the current climate, Wendy said that civil rights is a topic that will certainly be highlighted this season.

I know BLM has caught the nations attention at this time, but I have been doing this work for years. I marched when Trayvon Martin was killed and that was years ago. Im excited that people are catching wind to this now, but this is my lifes work. This is what I do, Wendy explained. Something that I focused on while we were filming is getting Black women out to vote. Thats something Im passionate about not just to get out and vote but to know the power of their vote.

I think this group is very engaged with these current issues, and Im excited because Ive been doing this for a while and Im glad people are coming on board, she continued. We need to propel this movement forward.

Wendy also opened up about how she and her husband are navigating discussions about the current civil rights movement with her two young sons, 7-year-old Karter and 5-year-old Kruz.

Mommy is on the news and if you walk into my house, youll see a TV tuned into a national news network. Theyre hearing people protesting, theyre hearing, No justice, no peace, so we had to explain to them why these people are in the streets and why theyre seeing these images on the television, said Wendy, adding that soon, they will need to have the conversation that every Black household with boys has.

The talk is about what happens when youre pulled over by a police officer, said Wendy. That in-depth conversation we have not had, but weve let them know why the current climate in the country is the way it is and the history of racism in this country.

Want more RHOP? New episodes air every Sunday at 9/8c or catch up on this season through the Bravo app.

The Daily Dish is your source for all things Bravo, from behind-the-scenes scoop to breaking news, exclusive interviews, photos, original videos, and, oh, so much more. Subscribe to The Daily Dish podcast, join our Facebook group, and follow us on Instagramfor the latest news hot off the presses. Sign up to become a Bravo Insider and be the first to get exclusive extras.

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Wendy Osefo on Her Involvement with Black Lives Matter: This Is My Lifes Work - Bravo

The 140-foot mural is on the side of a building in downtown Spokane, Washington -- sponsored in part by Terrain, a local arts nonprofit. Terrain, along with digital advertising agencies 14Four and Seven2, hired 16 artists to decorate and paint each letter in Black Lives Matter, according to CNN affiliate KXLY.

To some, though, it was insulting. The mural, completed less than two weeks ago, was vandalized on Wednesday.

But the community isn't letting the negative response hinder the effort. A fundraiser to restore the mural has already raised more than $10,000.

Artist Nicholas Sironka designed and painted the "A" in "Black" of the mural, a letter that received the brunt of the white paint. He wasn't surprised the mural had been vandalized, he told CNN.

"I just feel that the whole Black Lives Matter now to me has more meaning, unity of purpose. Everybody is unified to one purpose and that is eradicating inequality and injustice and all those things put together," he said.

Kiantha Duncan, vice president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP, said she had a visceral reaction to seeing the photos.

This isn't the only BLM mural that has been defaced in recent weeks. In Spokane, a mural of George Floyd was defaced with white paint, though it has now been restored.

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A Black Lives Matter mural is defaced with red, white and blue paint in Washington state - CNN

A group of University of Miami students take a deep dive through film, photography, and journalism into the history of police brutality and social justice issues Black people are facing in the United States.

As many students around the nation and globe engage in protesting violence by police against Black communities, a group of students at the University of Miami is documenting as much of it as possible.

Jayda Graham and KiAnna Dorsey, executive producers of The Culture, UMTVs award-winning channel which highlights the Black experience at and beyond the University of Miami, have banded together during the summer to lead the charge on a special edition project titled Black Voices Matter. UMTV produces nine different shows, including a weekly live sports show and newscast, a late-night comedy program, and two Spanish-language programs.

We felt like it was really important for us to talk about the issues that Black people are facing in America, said Jayda Graham, a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. I think this is a very unique time in history. Not only are we dealing with these social issues, but were also dealing with a pandemic thats disproportionately affecting black people.

Graham said it feels like an explosion of issues all at once and the U.S. is being forced to recognize what Black people have always been dealing with.

The 30-minute special project will highlight the history of the Black Lives Matter organization and its mission after the killing of teen Trayvon Martin. Members of The Culture will also share their personal perspectives of protests and rallies from their respective cities and towns.

Even though were in the midst of a hard time and everybody is social distancing, I feel like thats whats making this project extra special, said Dorsey, a sophomore majoring in motion pictures with a minor in Spanish. I also think its really special to know people from all over the University are on board.

UMTV station manager Gianna Sanchez, a senior majoring in broadcast journalism, frequently met virtually with Dorsey and Graham to assist with the planning and visual aspects of the project. Sanchez coordinated with every show under the UMTV umbrella so that they would be a part of the project.

It was important for UMTV to show its support of Black voices rather than just make one simple post about it, Sanchez said. All nine shows came together to make one united project, but it was important for The Culture to lead and to have this experience.

The unique project captures voices from across the University, including President Julio Frenk, Black student leaders, and faculty and staff members.

Its a combination of national and UM news, while also putting the focus on Black stories, Sanchez said. While showcasing those difference aspects, we end the show on a positive note by showcasing the things that have changed because of the proteststips on how you can be proactive, self-care advice, and helpful ways you can be an ally.

As Graham and Dorsey return to campus this fall semester, they plan to keep consistently creating similar content to keep their followers and supporters aware of Black community news.

We are pushing the envelope and telling the stories that need to be told, Graham said.

Black Voices Matter can be viewed online Friday, July 31, on the UMTV website.

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UMTV's The Culture sheds light on the Black Lives Matter movement - University of Miami