Monthly Archives: August 2021

Black Lives Matter Movement

In 2013, three female Black organizers Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi created a Black-centered political will and movement building project calledBlack Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter beganwith a social media hashtag, #BlackLivesMatter, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martinback in 2012. The movement grew nationallyin 2014 after the deaths of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York. Since then it has established itself as a worldwidemovement, particularly after the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, MN. Most recently, #Black Lives Matter has spearheaded demonstrations worldwide protesting police brutality and systematic racism that overwhelmingly effects the Black community.

According to the Black Lives Matterwebsite theywere "founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martins murderer. Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives."

BLM's #WhatMatters2020 Campaign: This 2020 Election-focused campaign focuses on promoting voter registration "among Millennials, Generation Z, the Black community, and allies" and education voters about a wide range of issues including "racial injustice, police brutality, criminal justice reform, Black immigration, economic injustice, LGBTQIA+ and human rights, environmental injustice, access to healthcare, access to quality education, and voting rights and suppression."

Local BLM Chapters: Local chapters of BLM in many areas of the country, including theDMV,have their own social media accounts to facilitate engagement in civil action close to home.

Follow Black Lives Matter onTwitter,FacebookandInstagram

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The Black Lives Matter Movement - A Brief History of Civil ...

The federal government deliberately targeted Black Lives Matter protesters via heavy-handed criminal prosecutions in an attempt to disrupt and discourage the global movement, according to a new report. David Goldman/AP hide caption

The federal government deliberately targeted Black Lives Matter protesters via heavy-handed criminal prosecutions in an attempt to disrupt and discourage the global movement, according to a new report.

The federal government deliberately targeted Black Lives Matter protesters via heavy-handed criminal prosecutions in an attempt to disrupt and discourage the global movement that swept the nation last summer in the wake of the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, according to a new report released Wednesday by The Movement for Black Lives.

Movement leaders and experts said the prosecution of protesters over the past year continues a century-long practice by the federal government, rooted in structural racism, to suppress Black social movements via the use of surveillance tactics and other mechanisms.

"The empirical data and findings in this report largely corroborate what Black organizers have long known intellectually, intuitively, and from lived experience about the federal government's disparate policing and prosecution of racial justice protests and related activity," the report stated.

The report, which was first shared with The Associated Press, argues that as the uprisings in the summer of 2020 increased, so did police presence, the deployment of federal agents and prosecution of protesters.

Titled "Struggle For Power: The Ongoing Persecution of Black Movement By The U.S. Government," the report details how policing has been used historically as a major tool to deter Black people from engaging in their right to protest and weaken efforts to draw attention to issues impacting Black Americans. It also drew a comparison to how the government used Counterintelligence Program techniques to "disrupt the work of the Black Panther Party and other organizations fighting for Black liberation."

Demonstrators protest near the White House over the death of George Floyd. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption

Demonstrators protest near the White House over the death of George Floyd.

"We want to really show how the U.S. government has continued to persecute the Black movement by surveillance, by criminalizing protests, and by using the criminal legal system to prevent people from protesting and punishing them for being engaged in protests by attempting to curtail their First Amendment rights," said Amara Enyia, The Movement for Black Lives' policy research coordinator.

"It is undeniable that racism plays a role," Enyia said. "It is structurally built into the fabric of this country and its institutions, which is why it's been so difficult to eradicate. It's based on institutions that were designed around racism and around the devaluing of Black people and the devaluing of Black lives."

In the report, published in partnership with the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility clinic at City University of New York School of Law, The Movement for Black Lives is calling for amnesty for all protesters involved in the nationwide protests.

The group, also known as M4BL, is demanding reparations from the government that includes an acknowledgment and an apology for the long history of targeting movements "in support of Black life and Black liberation." It also is pushing for passage of the BREATHE Act, proposed federal legislation that would radically transform the nation's criminal justice system, and ending the use of Joint Terrorism Task Forces in local communities.

The report also points to the stark difference in how the government handled the COVID-19 protests against local government shutdowns and mask mandates amid the pandemic during the same period. It analyzes 326 criminal cases initiated by U.S. federal prosecutors over alleged conduct related to protests in the wake of Floyd's murder and the police killings of other Black Americans, from May 31, 2020, to Oct. 25, 2020.

Demonstrators march in honor of George Floyd on Ashland Avenue in Chicago. Nam Y. Huh/AP hide caption

Demonstrators march in honor of George Floyd on Ashland Avenue in Chicago.

A key finding of the report was that the push to use federal charges against protesters came from top-down directives from former President Donald Trump and former Attorney General William Barr. M4BL and the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility clinic, also known as CLEAR, found that in 92.6% of the cases, there were equivalent state level charges that could have been brought against defendants.

Among those cases where comparable state level charges could have been brought, 88% of the federal criminal charges carried more severe potential sentences than the equivalent state criminal charges for the same or similar conduct.

"We saw U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr overnight go from expressing some level of sympathy for racial justice protesters to labeling them as radical and violent agitators with absolutely no basis for that sort of characterization," said Ramzi Kassem, founding director of CLEAR and a law professor at the City University of New York, adding that Barr and Trump used the arrests and prosecutions to justify the "hostile rhetoric" aimed at protesters. "All of this was very transparently aimed at disrupting a Black-led movement for social justice that was happening both spontaneously and in an organized fashion nationwide."

Race data was only available for 27%, or 89 of the defendants. And of that number, 52% were identified as Black. Of the Black defendants, 91% were identified as male.

"The known proportion of Black defendants compared to the proportion of Black people in the United States, per the latest census data, indicates that Black defendants were dramatically overrepresented," the report stated.

Seventy-two cases, or 22.1%, involved charges with mandatory minimum sentences. And 67 cases, or 20.6%, involved offenses where defendants are alleged to "have attempted, conspired, or aided and abetted an underlying crime without having actually committed the underlying criminal conduct."

Portland, Oregon, led in the number of charges brought for protest-related activity, making up 29% of federal charges. Chicago, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis followed.

Richard Wallace, founder of Equity and Transformation in Chicago, said over the past summer he witnessed overly aggressive policing by law enforcement officers who levied accusations of rioting and looting at protesters who were peacefully protesting. Wallace said he is deeply concerned for those who have been charged.

"Coming from Chicago, where (Black Panther Party leader) Fred Hampton was killed and where, Martin Luther King came and said this is one of the most segregated cities he ever saw, we have a very keen historic lens as it relates to state violence, and Black movement," said Wallace, whose organization, also known as EAT, was founded by and for formerly incarcerated and marginalized Black people and focuses on individuals who operate within the informal economy.

"What we saw in Illinois and across the country was this reverberation of Black power. And so, at all costs, the state is about dismantling that right, dismantling that in every possible way," he said.

The report also raises concerns about the involvement of Joint Terrorism Task Forces and found 20 cases that explicitly referenced task force involvement. The government "greatly exaggerated" the threat of violence from protesters, the report says.

Makia Green, a liberation organizer and co-conductor of the Washington D.C.-based group Harriet's Wildest Dreams, fully supports the report's findings and calls for action. Green believes President Joe Biden needs to fulfill his campaign pledges of supporting Black Americans and addressing the root causes of white supremacy, by pushing for amnesty for protesters. Green said Congress also needs to support legislation to overhaul the criminal justice system.

"Regardless of how we are often painted, activists are people who have the audacity to believe that we can live in a better world, where people are safe, where people are not afraid of being murdered by the police," Green said. "There are attempts to stifle our movement but it is truly a reflection to our supporters, to our allies, and to the folks who showed up in the streets last year, of how beautiful and powerful this movement is."

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Feds Deliberately Targeted Black Lives Matter Protesters, A Report Says - NPR

The federal government deliberately targeted Black Lives Matter protesters via heavy-handed criminal prosecutions in an attempt to disrupt and discourage the global movement that swept the nation and beyond last summer after the Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, according to a new report.

Movement leaders and experts said the prosecution of protesters over the past year continued a century-long practice by the federal government, rooted in structural racism, to suppress Black social movements via the use of surveillance tactics and other mechanisms.

The report was released by the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of more than 50 activism and advocacy civil rights groups and professional associations representing Black communities and published in partnership with the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (Clear) clinic at City University of New York (Cuny) School of Law.

The empirical data and findings in this report largely corroborate what Black organizers have long known intellectually, intuitively, and from lived experience about the federal governments disparate policing and prosecution of racial justice protests and related activity, the report stated.

The report, which was first shared with the Associated Press, argues that as the uprisings in the summer of 2020 increased, so did police presence, the deployment of federal agents and prosecution of protesters.

Titled Struggle For Power: The Ongoing Persecution of Black Movement By The US Government, the report details how policing has been used historically as a major tool to deter Black people from engaging in their right to protest, and to weaken efforts to draw attention to issues affecting Black Americans.

It also draws a comparison to how the government used counter-intelligence program techniques to disrupt the work of the Black Panther Party and other organizations fighting for Black liberation.

We want to really show how the US government has continued to persecute the Black movement by surveillance, by criminalizing protests, and by using the criminal legal system to prevent people from protesting and punishing them for being engaged in protests by attempting to curtail their first amendment rights, said Amara Enyia, the Movement for Black Lives policy research coordinator.

It is undeniable that racism plays a role, Enyia said. It is structurally built into the fabric of this country and its institutions, which is why its been so difficult to eradicate. Its based on institutions that were designed around racism and around the devaluing of Black people and the devaluing of Black lives.

In the report, the Movement for Black Lives calls for amnesty for all protesters involved in the nationwide protests.

The group, also known as M4BL, is demanding reparations from the government that include an acknowledgment and an apology for the long history of targeting movements in support of Black life and Black liberation.

It also is pushing for passage of the Breathe Act, proposed federal legislation that would radically transform the countrys criminal justice system, and ending the use of joint terrorism taskforces in local communities.

The report also points to the stark difference in how the government handled the Covid-19 protests against local government shutdowns and mask mandates amid the pandemic during the same period.

It analyzes 326 criminal cases initiated by US federal prosecutors over alleged conduct related to protests in the wake of Floyds murder and the police killings of other Black Americans, from31 May 2020 to 25 October 2020.

A key finding of the report is that the push to use federal charges against protesters came from top-down directives from Donald Trump and the former attorney general William Barr.

M4BL and Clear found that in 92.6% of the cases, there were equivalent state-level charges that could have been brought against defendants, mostly with less severe potential sentences.

We saw Barr overnight go from expressing some level of sympathy for racial justice protesters to labeling them as radical and violent agitators with absolutely no basis for that sort of characterization, said Ramzi Kassem, founding director of Clear and a law professor at CUNY, adding that it was very transparently aimed at disrupting a Black-led movement for social justice that was happening both spontaneously and in an organized fashion nationwide.

Race data was only available for 27%, or 89, of the defendants. Of that number, 52% were identified as Black. Of the Black defendants, 91% were identified as male.

Portland, Oregon, led in the number of charges brought for protest-related activity, making up 29% of federal charges. Chicago, Las Vegas, Washington, DC, and Minneapolis followed.

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US targeted Black Lives Matter activists in bid to disrupt movement, report finds - The Guardian

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The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against Home Depot, accusing the retailer of discriminating against a Minneapolis store employee who raised issues of racial harassment with coworkers and managers and displayed a Black Lives Matterslogan on his apron.

HOME DEPOT'S EARLY RELEASE OF HALLOWEEN PRODUCTS SOLD OUT ALMOST IMMEDIATELY

According to the complaint, the worker began wearing the Black Lives Matter logo in August 2020. The complaint notes that, sometime this year, Home Depot gave the employee the ultimatum of either removing the Black Lives Matter logo or quitting. The employee refused to remove the logo, which lead to his suspension.

The complaint further alleges Home Depot "threatened employees with unspecified consequences if they engaged in protected concerted activities regarding racial harassment."

NLRB Regional director JenniferHadsall said in a statement that issues of racial harassment "directly impact the working conditions of employees"

"The NLRA protects employees rights to raise these issues with the goal of improving their working conditions,"she added. "It is this important right we seek to protect in this case."

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A spokesperson for Home Depot told FOX Business the NLRB complaint "misrepresents the relevant facts."

"The Home Depot does not tolerate workplace harassment of any kind and takes all reports of discrimination or harassment seriously, as we did in this case,"the retailer said. "We disagree with the characterization of this situation and look forward to sharing the facts during the NLRBs process.Regardless of the outcome, we will continue to be fully committed to diversity and respect for all people."

A hearing on the allegations against Home Depot will be held over Zoom on Oct. 4.

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NLRB accuses Home Depot of forcing employee wearing Black Lives Matter logo on apron to quit - Fox Business

The artist responsible for a Quebec City mural in honour of Black lives says the piece being vandalized in such a short time reinforces its importance and relevance.

Two new street art pieces a fresco reading "Les Vies des Noire.e.s comptent", or Black Lives Matter, stretching a full city block in the Saint-Roch neighbourhood, and a collage of photographs depicting people of several races standing in solidarity with Black people in the Saint-Jean Baptiste neighbourhood were inaugurated Monday.

By Wednesday, the collage was defaced with graffiti reading "kebe-quoi?" scrawled across it, with "quoi?" spelled as the French word for "what?"

"I found this particularly difficult for the people who were photographed," said artist Wartin Pantois. "For me it was an act of intolerance."

Michelle Osbourne, one of the people pictured in the mural, said she wasn't surprised the art was defaced. But she's still hurt by its message that people of colour aren't welcome.

"Some people might just see it as graffiti, but it's not," she said."It's tough waking up every day feeling hated for existing."

Osbourne, who's lived in Quebec City for seven years, says she's going to keep fighting, because she doesn't want her daughter, who she plans to raise in the city, see her give up.

"I'm disappointed because we sent a message of solidarity and justice," said Mba-Hadji Mbarewaye, the founder of a collective of five organizations that came together to create the two pieces.

Mbarewaye said he was surprised by how quickly the art was defaced, and that it sends the message that Black people in the city should shut up and suffer in silence, but they will not.

Quebec City police say they received a complaint about the vandalism around 7 p.m. Wednesday.Officers also found graffiti with the same wording on Parvis Street and Fleury Street.

The incidents are being investigated.

Osbourne said she was "humbled, honoured and grateful," to have been included in the project, especially because she sees it as ahistoric piece that would not have happened when she first moved to the city.

"As someone who's had a really difficult time being an anglophone in Quebec City, it makes me so proud," she said.

The collective Mbarewaye started came together in response to a lack of recognition from city officials and police officers of systemic racism.

"There is some concern about us here in Quebec City, especially about racial profiling," Mbarewaye said. "The police service and elected officials in Quebec City don't like to talk about this problem."

He said he's not blaming all police officers, but he's calling for systemic change.

Breakaway11:22Black Lives Matter art installations in Quebec City

In an email earlier this week, the Quebec City police service wrote it does not consider there to be a systemic racism problem within its ranks.

Spokesperson David Pelletier wrote there are hundreds of employees within the SPVQ, which reflects Quebec society, and the organization is paying attention to this issue.

He wrote that officers are trained in what they call a cultural context, which addresses racial profiling.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.

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Artist and organizers shocked as Black Lives Matter mural in Quebec City defaced in just 3 days - CBC.ca

A Quebec City mural in honour of the Black Lives Matter movement was defaced just three days after the mural's inauguration.

The word "Kebequoi?" was scrawled in black lettering across in the mural, which features several figures posing with their fists raised; a symbol frequently used to represent the Black Lives Matter movement.

(Samuel Pouliot)

The mural, created by artist Wartin Pantois, is located in theSaint-Jean-Baptiste district of Quebec City.

"I find this act very sad for the participants I photographed and the collective of associations who asked me to create a Black Lives Matter work," says Pantois, adding that the real scandal in the situation is the "intolerance and non-recognition of systemic racism in Quebec."

Pantois adds that, when the mayor of Quebec City and the police department were questioned about systemic racism during the official unveiling of the mural, they "remained silent."

"It is time to break the silence and show solidarity in the face of injustice."

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Black Lives Matter mural in Quebec City vandalized just three days after its inauguration - CTV News Montreal

The Air Force Academy requires its incoming cadets to watch a diversity and inclusion video supportive of attending a Black Lives Matter chapter meeting.

Critics argue this proves military academies have implemented critical race theory as part of their curriculum.

We are pleased to offer this introductory D&I course as part of our commitment to working with cadets and cadet candidates in fostering a safe community built on mutual respect, teamwork, and personal dignity, a note from Yvonne L. Roland, the director of Culture, Climate, and Diversity, reads at the onset of the training.

The video follows Jose, a minority student, and three friends, while the instructions tell cadets to decide how you think his friends should respond. In the first scenario, two of the white friends pressure Jose to attend a Black Lives Matter rally, while the third later posits that the slogan should be "All Lives Matter," which was later described as a really problematic comment.

DEPOSED AFGHAN PRESIDENT ASHRAF GHANI RESURFACES IN UAE AFTER FLEEING KABUL

I can confirm this is part of required training for inbound cadets, Air Force Academy spokesman Dean Miller told the Washington Examiner. This is the first year this training has been used, and it is used at universities across the country.

Retired Lt. Gen. Rod Bishop and Dr. Ron Scott, a retired USAF Col., created an organization, Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services, Incorporated, to stop the implementation of critical race theory, which they argue is simply Marxism repackaged in new terms.

Black Lives Matter as an organization has openly espoused Marxism as part of its stated aims, though the phrase is often used to describe concerns about police shootings in black communities.

Critical race theory dates back to the 1970s, and it provides an alternative perspective on the country's history of issues of race. Critical race theorists allege that the country's foundational institutions are designed to keep white people ahead of minorities, requiring the dismantlement of the system to achieve a more just society.

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Opponents of the theory, mainly but not exclusively conservatives, argue that it is divisive because it assigns whites the role of oppressors and people of color the role of victims.

The decades-old theory has gotten significantly more attention in recent months amid accusations that schools and military institutions have begun introducing its core tenets in the classroom.

Col. Mark Anarumo, the president of Norwich University and formerly the director and permanent professor for the Center for Character and Leadership Development at the Air Force Academy, told the Washington Examiner in an interview that the teaching of critical race theory does not allow for a high-level debate or enhanced understanding of a topic.

Its what to think versus how to think, and the problem with that is there is a natural power dynamic in higher education, or really in any education, where if the professors are steering you towards a certain way to think, and you buck that, your grade suffers, he added.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Department of Defense does not teach or embrace the theory during a House Armed Services Committee budget hearing in June, but Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave an impassioned speech defending the merits of teaching the theory, comparing it to learning about Mao Zedong and Karl Marx, during the same hearing.

Lynne Chandler Garcia, an associate professor of political science at the U.S. Air Force Academy, admitted to teaching critical race theory in a June op-ed for the Washington Post, in which she argued that doing so was vital.

Asked about the apparent discrepancy between Garcia and Austins comments, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told Politico, "There is no contradiction here. The Secretarys comments stand. That a professor at an academic institution such as the Air Force Academy teaches a given theory as part of an elective course does not in the slightest way signify some larger effort by the Department to teach, espouse or embrace said theory.

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Critical race theory was referenced during the academys Acceptance Day Parade, which occurred earlier this month, according to one veteran who was in attendance to celebrate a relative who was honored as a newly accepted cadet, and he said he has never been sicker in my life.

I was disgusted by the fact there was a message of divisiveness vice a message of unity. I believe American citizens join the military because they love this nation, the veteran, who requested anonymity to protect his relative from retribution, added. I've never met anyone who said they joined just to see what was going on. This same love of nation, patriotism, is what brings men and women of all backgrounds, all races, all religions, and all ethnicities together. It is the glue that holds us together. It is also the one thing that will make a person risk his/her life in defense of the greatest nation in the world.

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Tags: News, Critical Race Theory, Pentagon, Air Force, National Security, Military, military training, Defense, Black Lives Matter

Original Author: Mike Brest

Original Location: Air Force Academy requires training linked to critical race theory and Black Lives Matter

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Air Force Academy requires training linked to critical race theory and Black Lives Matter - Yahoo News

An image showing rainbow pride and Black Lives Matter flags on the roof of the United States embassy in Kabul has been digitally altered.

The photo, posted to Facebook and Twitter on Aug. 16, shows a Chinook helicopter hovering by the embassy building, which appears to be flying both flags nearby.

Examples are viewable here , here , here and here .

One user said in the comments: The only flag should be american [sic] flag! this is a joke!

Another social media user said: Everything about this current administration disgusts me.. this picture of those flags are [sic] a disgrace.. [sic] I cant even wrap my head around half of the crap thats going on these days.

The image, however, is not authentic, as both flags were not a feature in the original photo, which was captured by Associated Press photographer Rahmat Gul on Aug. 15 (here). According to the caption, helicopters were landing at the U.S. embassy as diplomatic vehicles leave the compound amid the Taliban advance on the Afghan capital.

Taliban insurgents took little more than a week to collapse the Western-backed government in Kabul and take over Afghanistan (here and here).

This has prompted evacuations of foreign diplomats (here and here).

False. An image showing Pride and Black Lives Matter flags flying on the roof of the U.S. embassy in Kabul is digitally altered. No flags were flying in the original photo captured on Aug. 15.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here .

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Fact Check-Image of Pride and Black Lives Matter flags on roof of the U.S. embassy in Kabul is digitally altered - Reuters

Carla Monteiro's family and friends had been encouraging the social worker to run for office for years.

She is now running for an at-large seat of the Boston City Council. And why not? As Monteiro said, "every part" of her life "prepared" her for politics.

From getting evicted as a child growing up in Dorchester, Massachusetts, to losing loved ones to gun violence and substance abuse, to getting fired twice in one week from employers who didn't grant time off while her son was hospitalized for asthma, Monteiro has witnessed the effects poor policy has on the lives of the country's most vulnerable people firsthand.

Yet while the idea of running for office had been looming in her head for a while, she hadn't felt ready until after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis law enforcement last May.

"The George Floyd murder was devastating for all of us. That could be anyone's son," Monteiro said, adding that "all of my life experiences have played a role" in her decision to run for office, "but being the mother of a Black son and being a Black woman, I thought it was just the time."

Monteiro joins an exponentially growing group of people of color who've long championed racial justice through their advocacy work, but have recently been inspired to run for office because of last summer's Black Lives Matter protests and the pandemic's exacerbation of racial inequality.

While comprehensive data recording the exact number of people of color running for various offices is scarce, Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run for Something (RFS), an organization that aids young, progressive political newcomers with their campaigns, attests that RFS' candidate recruitment numbers "spiked" at the height of the protests in May though July 2020.

"We saw a surge of people signing up to run and it never really slowed down," Litman told Insider. "People started to really connect the dots and started saying, 'if I care about these problems, if I care about police accountability, if I care about the way schools are run in my community, if I care about criminal justice reform, it's really solved on the local level.'"

"The people currently in office are not getting it done, even and especially in places where Democrats are ostensibly in charge," she argued.

Running for office once seemed unfathomable for Basheer Jones, who currently serves on the Cleveland City Council and is now running for mayor of the city.

As a community activist, working on issues like literacy and community-police relations, he spent his early career attempting to institute change from outside the political arena.

It wasn't until he interviewed Marcia Fudge, the secretary of housing and urban development, for a radio show more than a decade ago, that he decided to merge his advocacy work with traditional politics. "I was not political. I was the activist that was leading the marches in Cleveland against politicians," Jones said. "Marcia Fudge told me, 'Basheer, I understand you're upset, but you can be an elected official and a public servant. Basheer, you have to be part of the system and change it from within.'"

If Jones wanted to see things change, he would have to run for office even if he believed there were many politicians "who are standing in the way of progress."

Politics has been diversifying in recent years; since the 2016 presidential election, more white women and people of color are running for office and winning.

The phenomenon is most visible in Congress. With nearly a quarter of its members identifying as racial and ethnic minorities, Congress is more diverse than it's ever been, per the Pew Research Center.

Since RFS began five years ago, more than half of the nearly 2,000 races RFS endorsed were people of color, Litman noted, which she said speaks to their growing presence in politics.

Racial justice protests that continued into this year have become another inflection point motivating people to run, according to Litman, who cited RFS candidates and Black Lives Matter activists like Bridgette Craighead, Indira Sheumaker, and Justan Parker Fields as examples of candidates who were ignited in large part by the events of the last summer to turn to politics .

Crystal Murillo, who is running for re-election on Aurora City Council, recalls how her Colorado constituents were shaken by the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who suffered a cardiac arrest and died days after a violent encounter with the city's police.

An independent probe, which was commissioned by the city's council, found that police were not justified in using force against McClain and that the paramedics at the scene sedated him "without conducting more than a visual observation."

"He was 23 years old when he died. I was 23 years old when I was elected. The proximity wasn't lost on me," Murillo, who's now 27, said. "We're both from Aurora, we're both young people. The only difference is he was a Black man and I'm not."

Murillo, who, if reelected, said she would invest in programs like Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets (CAHOOTS) a public safety system that sends unarmed paramedics and mental health professionals to answer non-emergency calls recalled the difficulty of having to wait for the investigation to conclude as people demanded answers and grappled with pain and anger.

"It felt very bureaucratic. It was hard not to be able to do something immediately, to have to sit with that truth that no one should die like that and let the process play out," Murillo said.

She added that nearly half of all use of force in Aurora last year was against Black residents, even though they make up only 16% of the city's population.

Several of the most high-profile stories involving police killing Black men last summer, including Ahmaud Arbery and Rayshard Brooks, occurred in Georgia.

"The protests revealed a lot about where we are at this time," Carter said. "It wasn't even just George Floyd. It was Ahmaud Arbery, it was Breonna Taylor. When you look at the institution of policing, not much has changed since the 1940s."

"Until we start to address the policies, the fabrics of these bad laws stay in place," he added.

Carter's campaign involves instituting legislation that improves law enforcement accountability and community-police relations so that communities feel "protected, not occupied."

"We don't have to wait on the president to sign the George Floyd bill," Carter said, referring to The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives in March and has yet to receive a vote in the Senate.

"A mayor has the ability to put those things into practice at the local level."

The bill would end qualified immunity for law enforcement officers, ban no knock warrants in federal drug cases, and prohibit chokeholds and carotid holds two police techniques that involve the use of deadly force. It is considered "the most ambitious policing reform bill in decades."

Candidates want to be clear that the fight for racial justice goes beyond police reform as inequity permeates every facet of policy from housing to healthcare.

Aftab Pureval, who's running for mayor of Cincinnati, has been especially concerned with how courts perpetuated racial inequality with exorbitant fines that "prevent mobility" and the lack of affordable housing in the city, particularly since Black women are disproportionately facing eviction.

"We need to prioritize creating affordable housing in a systematic and ongoing fashion and eradicate housing zoning laws that prevent multifamily housing, artificially keeping our supply down and driving prices up," Pureval, who, if elected, would be the first Asian-American mayor of Cincinnati.

For people of color and anyone else from a marginalized community, there are many obstacles to running for office, not least of them: money to finance their campaigns and distrust in a government that hasn't traditionally served them.

However, many candidates say they are buoyed by the belief that they can truly make a difference and envision a better country that fulfills its ideals.

"We've been out here doing the work," Boston mayoral candidate Carla Monteiro said. "There's a lot of us who've been doing the groundwork all this time. We're also realizing our voices need to be heard on the policy level."

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More people of color and women are jumping into politics. How protests inspired activists to run for office - Insider