Category Archives: Black Lives Matter

Portland police Chief Frank Clark on Friday reacted to an independent report on the police departments response to Black Lives Matter protests last year.Clark said the 64-page report validates the work his officers did t respond to the most violent night of the protests in the weeks following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.On June 1, 2020, a small group mixed with hundreds of peaceful protesters in downtown Portland. It was four hours after the protest began and 90 minutes after organizers told everyone to go home, according to the report."We had at least three cruisers, I believe, where we had people, protestors jump on the car, trying to break windows, Clark said.Stores, such as Urban Outfitters, saw their windows smashed. Old Port Spirits & Cigars was vandalized and looted. More than 20 buildings were tagged with graffiti.Police arrested 22 people. None complained about their treatment by officers, according to the report.Clark said he considers his department to be a guardian of public order and the Constitution."How can we make sure that this group, however many there are, wherever they're gonna be, is able to exercise their First Amendment rights and peacefully demonstrate, Clark said.Black Portland Organizers Working to End Racism, a successor group to Black Lives Matter Portland, issued a statement to WMTW in response to the report saying, "The actions of PPD on June 1 caused several peaceful protestors to suffer from major panic attacks as well as several reports of peaceful youth protestors going into respiratory distress from use of pepper spray."Clark said the protests led him to tweak crowd control training for his 158 officers."It's been a demoralizing year for law enforcement, Clark said.Nationwide, police agencies are currently filling only 93% of jobs. Clark said the Portland Police Department is looking to fill 13 positions."My hope is that we're going to able to better engage with our community, we're going to bring people together again, because it's not us versus them. It's just got to be us. It's all of us, Clark said.

Portland police Chief Frank Clark on Friday reacted to an independent report on the police departments response to Black Lives Matter protests last year.

Clark said the 64-page report validates the work his officers did t respond to the most violent night of the protests in the weeks following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

On June 1, 2020, a small group mixed with hundreds of peaceful protesters in downtown Portland. It was four hours after the protest began and 90 minutes after organizers told everyone to go home, according to the report.

"We had at least three cruisers, I believe, where we had people, protestors jump on the car, trying to break windows, Clark said.

Stores, such as Urban Outfitters, saw their windows smashed. Old Port Spirits & Cigars was vandalized and looted. More than 20 buildings were tagged with graffiti.

Police arrested 22 people. None complained about their treatment by officers, according to the report.

Clark said he considers his department to be a guardian of public order and the Constitution.

"How can we make sure that this group, however many there are, wherever they're gonna be, is able to exercise their First Amendment rights and peacefully demonstrate, Clark said.

Black Portland Organizers Working to End Racism, a successor group to Black Lives Matter Portland, issued a statement to WMTW in response to the report saying, "The actions of PPD on June 1 caused several peaceful protestors to suffer from major panic attacks as well as several reports of peaceful youth protestors going into respiratory distress from use of pepper spray."

Clark said the protests led him to tweak crowd control training for his 158 officers.

"It's been a demoralizing year for law enforcement, Clark said.

Nationwide, police agencies are currently filling only 93% of jobs. Clark said the Portland Police Department is looking to fill 13 positions.

"My hope is that we're going to able to better engage with our community, we're going to bring people together again, because it's not us versus them. It's just got to be us. It's all of us, Clark said.

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Portland police react to report on its response to Black Lives Matter protests - WMTW Portland

NORTH CLARENDON A recent School Board decision to display the Black Lives Matter flag at Mill River Union High School is not sitting well with some community members.

At Wednesday evenings meeting of the Mill River Unified Union School District Board, 26 people spoke during a public comment session that lasted nearly 90 minutes. Many of those who spoke took issue with the flag, with a number of them contending that the action is a violation of district policy.

Last month, the School Board voted 8-3 to approve a student proposal to display a version of the BLM flag that also features a rainbow on one edge to denote Black LGBTQ+ pride.

The flag was the first to be approved under a new district-wide policy for vetting flag display requests adopted by the board last fall. The policy was developed after efforts by the board last summer to raise the BLM and Pride flags were met with public backlash and threats of legal action.

During discussion prior to the approval of the request last month, board member Bruce Moreton argued that approving the flag might be a violation of MRUUSD Policy E4, which is related to risk management.

The policy reads: It is the policy of the district to minimize risk to the district as it discharges its responsibility for properly managing the resources of the school system. This responsibility includes concern for the safety of students, employees and the public, as well as concern for protecting the systems property from loss. No new program, policy or procedure will be adopted or approved by the board without first giving careful consideration to the school systems risk exposure.

At the time, both Superintendent David Younce and District Business Manager Stan Pawlaczyk clarified that the policy was related to fiscal risk only.

At Wednesdays meeting, Board Chair Adrienne Raymond addressed the potential policy violation, reading a statement from the boards legal counsel that said the district was not exposing itself to any uninsured risk by adopting the flag policy.

Raymond added that she also contacted the districts insurance provider whom she said informed her that the district would almost certainly be covered for any property and liability damage under its policy.

I think this puts peoples minds at rest, she said.

Yet that was not the case for some district residents.

I want this board ... to tell me where in your meetings youve ever talked about the many risks associated with this flag? asked Rep. Arthur Peterson, R-Clarendon, after reading Policy E4 aloud.

Peterson cited a decline in student enrollment over the last school year and the fact that the Clarendon Select Board has been openly discussing withdrawing from the school district as risks associated with displaying the BLM flag.

Peterson was a vocal critic of the districts efforts to raise BLM and Pride flags last year. However, in an interview with the Herald last September, he said he would honor the decision if either of those flags cleared the vetting process established by the board.

I personally wont be happy, but if it makes it through the process, it makes it through the process, he said.

Nonetheless, Peterson appears to be continuing his campaign against the BLM flag.

Earlier this month, he appeared before the Clarendon Select Board and he urged members to attend Wednesdays School Board meeting, citing the alleged policy violation.

On Wednesday, Select Board Chair Mike Klopchin and Selectman Robert Bixby addressed the School Board, telling them that the town is considering putting a nonbinding article about withdrawing from MRUUSD on the March Town Meeting Day ballot.

In my opinion all lives matter, said Klopchin.

Several other members of Petersons family spoke against the flag, including his wife, Barbara Peterson, who said that seven of her grandchildren are unwilling refugees from the school district because youre trying to put up communist ideals with the American flag.

Pay attention to education, stop with the indoctrination, she said.

Richard Ley, of Clarendon, read an excerpt from the districts equity policy, claiming the school board has failed students.

These policies expose concern not only for our students and our community, I believe they violate our moral responsibility to our students, he said. When we decide to create division and preferential treatment for any reason whether its skin color, religion, gender or a flag we fly we create peril, not only in our school but everywhere we send these students.

But while a number of speakers echoed the same concerns about the risk management policy as well as raised related concerns about the districts equity policy and the alleged teaching of critical race theory several others voiced their support for the flag.

Clarendon resident Madison Akin thanked the board for deciding to raise the BLM flag, asserting that the conversation has encouraged people to become more engaged and politically active.

However, she questioned the motivations of those who have been citing the risk management policy, stating, It seems odd to me that flying a flag is a safety concern yet caring for our Black and Brown students doesnt seem to evoke the same kind of safety concern.

Former School Board member John McKenna, who lost his bid for re-election in March, said risk was absolutely discussed in policy committee meetings related to the adoption of the flag policy.

It has been addressed, it has been considered to be acceptable risk, he said.

Heather Kent, of Clarendon, fought back tears as she recalled the suicide of her brother, who was gay.

She addressed the people in the room who spoke about their grandchildren, stating, Statistically, one of your grand-kids is gay, and they are hearing this.

Kent maintained that the BLM and Pride flags are not a political statement.

They are a statement to those kids, saying, We see you, we hear you, hold on. Please, hold on, she said, arguing that if the flag prevents one child from committing suicide, then it was worth it.

Clarendon resident Dave Potter suggested that its time the board put the BLM flag matter into the rear-view mirror, noting that the board has taking testimony from all sides and made its decision.

Mill River is not the first district in Vermont to have done that and life seems to have gone on just fine in those other locations, many of which are right here in Rutland County, he said.

Carol Geery, another resident of Clarendon, asserted that opposition to the BLM flag is more detrimental to the community than displaying it.

I worry more about my property value declining because of the cultivation of intolerance than because the school will be flying the Black Lives Matter flag, she said.

Riley Usher a recent MRUUHS graduate from Clarendon, said the BLM flag is non-issue among students.

I dont see why it has to be such a big issue to the parents and to the staff if its not an issue for the students, she said.

In other business, the board heard a request to adopt a district-wide statement of inclusion, but took no action.

It also received an update on the districts equity work in light of recent national attention around critical race theory.

CRT is a theory developed by legal scholars in the 1970s that looks at race as a social construct. Political conservatives have seized on the concept in recent months, alleging its being taught in K-12 schools.

MRUUSD equity coordinator Jodie Stewart-Ruck stated that CRT is not being taught in Mill River schools and there is no plan to do so.

(CRT) is a graduate-level theory taught in graduate schools and law schools. We do not have the expertise to teach that to Mill River public school students, and it wouldnt be appropriate for their age level, she said. We do believe that teaching kids to be critical thinkers is central for providing them with the education they need to be responsible community members and our future neighbors.

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BLM flag remains an issue at Mill River - Rutland Herald

Britons are more likely to view Black Lives Matter as a force for good than ill, polling suggests.

Nearly half (46 per cent) of voters saw the movement as a force for good compared to 35 per cent who saw it as negative, the YouGov survey suggested.

The exclusive polling was carried out for a More In Common paper on the culture wars, a section of which has been seen by i ahead of the reports launch on Tuesday.

The organisation, set up in the wake of the extremist murder of MP Jo Cox, also found through focus groups that unlike the way in which BLM is discussed by those fighting culture wars, the public can and do make a distinction between the movement and the political organisation.

That distinction has been at the heart of recent rows over England footballers taking the knee before matches, in a gesture popularised by the BLM movement.

The players said they were doing it to protest against racism and discrimination, but several prominent right-wing figures denounced their stance.

Tory MP Lee Anderson boycotted all England games on the teams run to the Euro 2020 final this month because he believed taking the knee amounted to supporting an organisation with quite sinister motives.

But More In Commons seven focus groups across England last month found that people were able to distinguish between the political organisation, where they often disagreed with tactics and ideology, and the ethical argument of BLM, which found broad support.

The data also showed a more nuanced picture, with certain socioeconomic groups viewing BLM as a more negative force.

The report characterises Britons in seven socioeconomic groups: progressive activists, civic pragmatists, disengaged battlers, established liberals, loyal nationals, disengaged traditionalists and backbone conservatives.

The activists, civic pragmatists who are turned off by division in politics, battlers who feel they are just keeping their heads above water, and liberals all viewed BLM as a force for good to varying degrees.

Loyal nationals who are patriotic and anxious about threats facing Britain, traditionalists and conservatives all viewed BLM as a more negative force.

Overall though, 60 per cent of Britons said they felt exhausted by political divisions, and voters tended to dislike radical activism and tearing things down, instead preferring evolving and building on existing cultural norms, according to the paper.

This is also reflected in climate debates where most people support action to reach net zero but do not believe Extinction Rebellion has been a force for good.

Luke Tryl, UK director of, More in Common, said: In our conversations with Britons from across the country, they spoke passionately about the need to do more to tackle racism both on and offline and there was strong support for the message Black Lives Matter.

That doesnt make Britons Marxists or mean that they support all of BLMs tactics.

In fact, what was striking was that unlike the way in which BLM is discussed by those fighting culture wars, the public can and do make a distinction between the movement and the political organisation.

Most Britons want tackle prejudice and discrimination, but they want that to happen in a way that builds on our national story and looks at how we learn from the past, rather than tearing things down.

YouGov polled 2,000 Britons online in January 2021, in an exclusive poll commissioned jointly by More In Common and MHPC. More In Common carried out six CRD recruited focus groups in June 2021 in Stoke, Tyneside, Manchester, Bristol, London and Sussex.

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Britons are more likely to view Black Lives Matter as a force for good than ill, data shows - iNews

Amidst all the media clamour about a recent white paper on education, one Thought for the Day expresses concern for the needs of all children, encouraging me to write again.

Considered response to educational underachievement is better than polarised reactions; in categorising problems we can lose awareness of individual suffering and the ramifications.

A report acknowledging deprivation should prompt investigation of root causes.

We talk about 'Mental Health' when we are really discussing mental illness; 'Black Lives Matter' became a slogan when we should be tackling corrupted public systems.

A mob topples a statue and the heated debate following seems more concerned with material matters than with the present injustices driving the underlying emotions.

That passion could be directed towards solutions. A healthy society cares for those who are in distress.

Lockdown has shown what can be achieved and can clear focus.

Zoom has enabled vital connections but also induces remoteness.

It is people, and the Arts especially, that inspire; we need imagination and creative activity to tackle the unhealthy parts of our society.

Systemic privilege and self-preservation block progress. Government should be serving people and our environment.

I want to celebrate the complexity of individuals and work for a society where all children are nurtured.

Both gender and colour are unsuited to box ticking and simplification. We all have inbuilt assumptions.

With the will to face them, our children will have a better future.

Barbara FerrisDinedor

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Black Lives Matter: Present injustices drive the underlying emotions - Hereford Times

On Jan. 6the same day as the whiny wypipo rebellion at the U.S. CapitolBlack woman Keren Prescott was leading a Black Lives Matter protest outside the Connecticut Capitol building when she told an all lives matter-spewing white woman, Yuliya Gilshteyn, to back up, because she wasnt wearing a face mask. Gilshteyn wasnt even asked to back away because she was yet another fragile-ass melanin-not who still, in 2021, is pretending not to understand that the words Black lives matter do not, by any rule of the English language, imply that other lives dont. All Prescott wanted was to get this maskless white woman TF out of her faceinstead, Gilshteyn spat on her.

Gilshteyn was arrested and charged with a hate crime behind the incident of flagrant Caucasian nastiness, but now that hate crime might be dropped, according to the Washington Post.

From the Post:

Then, Gilshteyn, who was carrying a small child at the time, turned to her left and spat in Prescotts face, hitting her glasses and mask, and retreated from the scene, according to a video of the incident. Gilshteyn, 45, of New Fairfield, Conn., faces multiple charges from the encounter including felony hate crime of intimidation due to bias. The spitting incident was denounced by the Hartford states attorney as the most foul thing I have ever seen.

But the hate-crime charge may not hold up after a judge granted Gilshteyn special probation this week. The Wednesday ruling from Hartford Superior Court calls for Gilshteyn to enter accelerated rehabilitation, a pretrial diversionary program for first-time offenders in Connecticut. She was also ordered to complete 100 hours of anti-hate curriculum in the next two years.

Hartford Superior Court Judge Sheila M. Prats ruled that the hate crime and all of Gilshteyns charges would be dismissed if she completes the special probation program.

Gilshteyn spat on Prescott and ran away like the coward she is with the quickness, likely because she knew spitting in a Black persons face would get her head busted to the even whiter white meat. (Seriously, have white people not learned anything from the Flavor of Love incident where Pumpkin almost got dragged by her wig for spitting in New Yorks face?)

In May, Prescott told News 8 that during the protest, It was not until we started saying Black Lives Matter, that Gilshteyn started to antagonize us by chanting all lives matter and saying to the protesters things like, Black lives dont matter.

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I am asking her to back up. I am looking at the officer because theres an officer literally right in front of me, Prescott continued. This is not small. For many people, this is like the worst form, I would rather be punched I didnt even realize until I looked at the video that I had the spit on my glasses. I still had spit on my mask. And it wasnt until probably an hour later that it finally registered. What if she has COVID? My grandmother would have been 101-years-old this year if she had not died of COVID last May.

Now, Prescott is just pissed this nasty-ass woman gets to take some anti-hate program thats apparently supposed to rid her psyche of all things that make her hate-crime-worthy.

More from the Post:

Prescott, who turned 40 the day of the ruling, was left in tears over a decision she described to The Washington Post as the epitome of White privilege. Prescott and her attorney, Ken Krayeske, argued that a judge would not have accepted accelerated rehabilitation given to offenders who the court believes will probably not commit more crimes in the future if a Black woman had spat on a White woman.

When she attacked me and the police didnt believe me, that was White privilege. When the police held me back and she was led away, that was White privilege, Prescott said outside the courtroom, according to the Hartford Courant. The fact she was in here today and didnt even get a slap on the wrist, that is White privilege.

What is she going to learn walking away from this unscathed? Prescott added, because, ultimately, thats exactly what could happen.

According to Gilshteyns attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, her clients actions were inappropriate and shocking, but not racist. She said Gilshteyn acted out of frustration over mask mandates, not racism, as if public health measures during a pandemic would have anything to do with why shes antagonizing BLM protesters.

We dont dispute that she shouldnt have spit on her, but we dispute what caused it, Kaloidis said. To say my client is the epitome of white privilege is garbage.

According to the Post, Gilshteyn helped her attorney check the rest of the racism denial boxes in the Caucasians Stay Lyin book by offering Prescott an apology this week saying what she did was*yawn* completely out of character.

Suffice it to say, Prescott isnt impressed with another white non-apology.

Prescott is all of us.

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'The Epitome of White Privilege': White Woman Who Spit on Black Protester Might Have Hate Crime Charge Dropped - The Root

Photograph by Dan Swartz.

Black Lives Matter Plaza is once again open only to pedestrians, starting today. All traffic lanes are closing to car traffic while the city undertakes work to make the plaza a permanent installation. Construction is expected to run through October.

Sidewalks and access to businesses will remain open during the project. But all northbound and southbound lanes will be closed on 16th Street NW between H and K streets NW.

While the lanes are closed, the Districts transportation department will install roadway pavers, bollards, and the permanent BLM mural. A rendering of the design, below, shows two exterior lanes for car traffic, and an interior pedestrian plaza sectioned off by the bollards.

The Plaza was previously opened to traffic in March, and then paved over in May when the yellow paint began to fade.

Join the conversation!

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Construction to Make Black Lives Matter Plaza Permanent Is Starting Today - Washingtonian

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The ongoing mass protests in Cuba are a clarifying thing and not just about the brutal nature of that countrys communist regime. They have equally shown the true colors of Black Lives Matter in the United States.

As the past few days have demonstrated, the supposed social justice group cares far more about advancing the red banner of Marxism than protecting Black and Brown people.

The truth became clear on Thursday morning, when Black Lives Matter (BLM) released its official statement about the Cuban protests. Its telling that it took so long for the group to issue any statement at all the protests started Sunday, and the regime crackdown not long after. Whats more telling is what the statement said. It was full of blame for the United States, and full of praise for Cuban communism.

GREG GUTFELD: CUBANS WAVING AMERICAN FLAGS OFFENDS STUDENTS, PRO ATHLETES AND OLYMPIC HAMMER THROWERS

BLM minced no words: "The people of Cuba are being punished by the U.S. government." Apparently, through a decades-long embargo, the U.S. has "instigated suffering for the countrys 11 million people of which 4 million are Black and Brown." The group simultaneously claimed that "Cuba has historically demonstrated solidarity with oppressed peoples of African descent."

Both claims are false obviously so.

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To start, the United States is not oppressing the Cuban people. That distinction belongs to the communist regime founded by Fidel Castro and the U.S. embargo is a response to Cubas tyranny.

For more than 60 years, the countrys leaders have denied all basic freedoms, imprisoned people for their political views, and systematically pillaged the countrys wealth. And while the BLM statement claimed the U.S. is "undermining Cubans right to choose their own government," it is in fact the Cuban authorities that protect the communist regime at any cost even violence toward the countrys citizens.

Thats whats happening right now, and it directly disproves BLMs second claim. The Cubans marching in the streets want nothing more than libertad, yet the regimes response has been to shoot at protesters, raid homes, and kill at least one person, though my sources in Cuba tell me the true number of deaths is much higher.

And who, pray tell, are authorities punishing in this crackdown? Among others, Black and Brown Cubans. These are the very people for whom BLM claims to advocate. Yet the arbiters of racial justice cant muster a word of criticism against the communist regime.

The question is why BLM tolerates such obvious injustice. The answer is the same ideology that animates the Cuban regime Marxism.

Two of Black Lives Matters founders are trained Marxist agitators, according to one of them, and the organization itself reflects it. Its operational agenda is essentially to overthrow American society, which it deems irredeemably unjust, and build a new one in its place.

If Black Lives Matter truly cared about Black and Brown people, it would condemn the Cuban regime with same fervor it currently reserves for the United States.

It has made perfectly clear what it wants in this brave new world: A state with the power to punish anyone it pleases, and penitents forced to publicly repent their privilege.

What is that vision, if not a Marxist state with struggle sessions? Such countries already exist, like China. Another example is the country BLM refuses to denounce: Cuba.

Theres a reason the groups recent statement condemns the U.S. for trying to "crush [Cubas] Revolution." Its the same reason one of BLMs founders has stood side-by-side with Nicolas Maduro, the dictator who has brought Cuban-style socialism and oppression to Venezuela.

If Black Lives Matter truly cared about Black and Brown people, it would condemn the Cuban regime with same fervor it currently reserves for the United States. That it refuses to do so points to its real goal the same goal that Marxists have sought since the Russian Revolution and in every Marxist movement since. They want nothing less than power, and theyre willing to obtain it by any means.

The proof is playing out on the streets of Havana, Santiago, Camaguey and countless other Cuban cities. In the fight to tear down the U.S., what does it matter if Black and Brown Cubans must be killed in the streets?

Josef Stalin may not have actually said "you cant make an omelet without breaking a few eggs," but that sentiment animates the leadership of BLM. For them, the suffering of minorities on that communist island nation is not in vain, because it provides an opportunity to further undermine the locus of liberty in the world.

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By backing Cuba and bashing the U.S., Black Lives Matter is standing in the way of Cubas liberation. So are BLMs allies, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who make similar arguments. Their defense of the indefensible and criticism of their own free country have dangerous effects. It intimidates Americans from supporting the Cuban people and may even block the Biden administration from punishing the Cuban regime for its oppression.

Whether Black, Brown or any other color, the Cuban people deserve the libertad for which theyre chanting in the streets. The same is true for the American people, who also deserve better than dangerous hypocrisy of Black Lives Matter.

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Marion Smith: Marxist Black Lives Matter here's why it supports Cuba's communists over the protesters - Fox News

As a follow up to our previous special recorded in October 2019, we took another look at race issues within football last June, following the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests across the world.

We hear from Troy Townsend of Kick It Out, Jordan Jarrett Bryan of Its All Blakademik and Elliott Ross of The Correspondent, exploring the football worlds reaction and incidents of racism in the game since the last podcast tackling the subject.

We ask why the punishments from footballs governing bodies for racial abuse arent anywhere near tough enough, and why black representation in positions of football leadership is still so low.

Finally, we ask tough question about black representation in the sports media world including in this podcast.

Books and articles about race recommended by the panel:

Support The Guardian

The Guardian is editorially independent. And we want to keep our journalism open and accessible to all. But we increasingly need our readers to fund our work.

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From the archive: Black Lives Matter and tackling racism Football Weekly - The Guardian

A 34-year-old infantryman from Dallas, Texas, and stationed at Fort Wainwright for the last 10 months is facing a murder charge in connection with the shooting death of a Black Lives Matter demonstrator in downtown Austin last summer.

Sgt. Daniel Perry, who joined the U.S. Army in 2012 and served in Afghanistan that same year, says it was self-defense after 29-year-old Garrett Foster pointed a weapon at him while other protesters beat on his car, damaging it. Perry was moonlighting as a driver for a ridesharing company and was unaware of the demonstration until he drove up on it, according to a written account on a GoFundMe page aimed at raising money for his legal defense. Both Perry and Foster are white.

Sgt. Perry had acted in self-defense when a masked Boogaloo Boi raised an AK-47 at him during an allegedly peaceful protest, reads a news release provided by Perrys attorney, Clint Broden.

Witnesses say he barreled into the crowd of demonstrators. Perry threatened one of the pedestrians and drove toward that person, according to media reports. Prior to the incident, he had reportedly made hostile statements about protesters in social media posts.

The incident unfolded around the time last year when people in multiple cities were taking to the streets to decry police brutality in the wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.

The case is getting a lot of media attention in the Lone Star State, and Broden is accusing the Travis County District Attorney of misconduct saying in a July 7 news release that the district attorney's office coerced Austin police to remove a significant amount of evidence which supported Sgt. Perrys self-defense claim from their grand jury presentation.

According to a city of Austin news release dated July 27, 2020, police officers heard two separate volleys of gunfire during a protest march two days earlier around 10 p.m., and several people called 911, including Perry.

The caller stated they had shot someone who had approached their drivers window and pointed a rifle at them. The caller was instructed to pull over and officers would be dispatched. Officers located and brought the caller to the homicide office to be interviewed. The handgun and vehicle were secured as evidence, reads the news release.

Witnesses offered multiple versions of events, according to Austin police.

Witnesses reported that a disturbance began when a vehicle started honking its horn as it turned southbound onto Congress from 4th St. The vehicle stopped as there were a large number of people in the roadway. Foster, who was holding an AK-47 type assault rifle, approached the drivers side window as others in the crowd began striking the vehicle. Gunshots were fired from inside the vehicle at Foster, reads the news release.

Another person watching the soldier drive away from the crowd pulled out a handgun and fired shots at the vehicle. That person was also interviewed and that weapon seized.

Perry was released pending further investigation. A grand jury indicted him 11 months later. The soldier surrendered to Texas authorities on July 1, according to online court records.

He turned himself in and made bond ($300,000) and was out within about 10 or 15 minutes, said Travis County Sheriffs Office spokeswoman Kristen Dark.

Foster died of multiple gunshot wounds after efforts to resuscitate him failed. He was attending the march with his wheelchair-bound girlfriend, according to media reports. One report said that Foster was a veteran. He was carrying the AK-47, which is allowed under Texas open-carry laws, using a sling.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Perry was doxed and online sleuths revealed that he had made comments about using firearms to protect himself from violent protesters.

According to a U.S. Army spokesman, the incident happened while Perry was stationed at Fort Hood. Since October, he has been attached to the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Fort Wainwright. He is a former Eagle Scout who earned five Army Achievement Medals, according to the GoFundMe page. More than 200 people have donated $18,635 to the Sgt. Daniel Perry Defense Fund as of Monday.

Broden pointed out that the standard of proof required for an indictment is significantly less than the standard of proof required for a conviction. He said the case is important as it pertains to the Texas Stand Your Ground Law.

Perry reportedly passed a lie detector test.

When this case is presented to a jury at trial and the jury gets to hear all the evidence instead of a one-sided presentation, we have every confidence that Sgt. Perry will be acquitted, reads a news release provided by Perrys attorney.

Sgt. Perry again simply asks that anybody who might want to engage in a hindsight review of this incident picture themselves trapped in a car as a masked stranger raises an AK-47 in their direction and reflect upon what they might have done if faced with the split-second decision he faced that evening, the news release reads.

Contact staff writer Amanda Bohman at 459-7545. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/FDNMborough.

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Fort Wainwright soldier indicted in death of Black Lives Matter protester - Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Last summer, when Black Lives Matter protests rolled through nearly 550 towns and cities across the U.S., the business community reacted swiftly.

Two weeks after the senseless killing of George Floyd, American corporations pledged more than $1.7 billion to address racism and injustice. At the same time, company leaders publicly promised to make their organizations more diverse by improving anti-discriminatory hiring practices, pay parity and equitable access to advancement for people of color.

Business has the transformative power to change and contribute to a more open, diverse and inclusive society. We can only accomplish this by starting from within our organizations, wrote Vijay Eswaran, executive chairman of the multinational conglomerate QI Group.

One year later, it seems appropriate to ask what has become of this outpouring of good will. How many Black people have been hired or promoted? How many are at pay equity with their white peers? What are the results of the systems put in place to promote Black employees retention and career advancement?

History makes it clear how crucial accountability is for social justice. Although diversity and inclusion initiatives trace back to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the chasm that separate promises and even good faith efforts from results remains stubbornly wide.

A February 2021 McKinsey report on race in the workplace describes Black employees as being 41% less likely to believe promotions are fair and 39% less likely to believe their companys diversity, equity and inclusion programs are effective than white employees in the same company. Racial discrimination suits, among the most-filed complaints at the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, result in relief only 15% of the time.

And of course, corporate support of social justice initiatives is not altogether altruistic. By speaking up for Black Lives Matter, companies position themselves to reap capitalistic benefits and avoid cancellation. According to a June 2020 survey, a majority of Americans of all generations 60% of the U.S. population say that how a brand responds to racial justice protests will influence whether they buy or boycott the brand in the future.

Nonetheless and not surprisingly its not hard to find examples of companies publicly voicing solidarity with Black workers but not backing it up in their hiring practices and policies.

A study published in May looked at diversity in the technology industry and found that companies that made statements of support with Black Lives Matter had 20% fewer Black employees on average than those that didnt.

As the protests were peaking in 2020, Amazon announced a $10-million donation to organizations supporting the fight against systemic racism and injustice, a figure that grew as the company matched employee donations. Since then, however, at its various businesses, it has racked up allegations of systemic bias against people of color, including retaliating against employees who wore Black Lives Matter paraphernalia, paying low wages to a disproportionately Black and Latino warehouse workforce and discriminating against them when it comes to promotions.

During this years proxy season, Amazon shareholders considered a proposal asking the board for an independent audit to assess the companys equity policies. Although the proposal had backing at the May 26 shareholder meeting, it was voted down.

On the other hand, Starbucks, with social justice initiatives that stem from a much-publicized 2018 in-store racial profiling incident, recently released an independently produced report on its progress on civil rights concerns. The report includes metrics on racial/gender pay equity and its workforce demographics, as well as strategies for reassessing policies previously put in place and updates on how they are tracking to their long-range diversity goals.

Additionally, in April, BlackRock, the worlds largest asset management firm, announced that it too would get an independent audit of its racial equity and inclusion. This puts pressure on smaller firms to do the same.

A companys dedication to the timely disclosure of complete equity data is the only way the public can assess whether its activism is performative or a real attempt at change. According to As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy organization, approximately two-thirds of companies in the S&P 500 made statements in support of racial justice in 2020, but tracking their progress toward goals they set was hampered because of a serious lack of data and transparency at the companies.

The tragedy of such lost accountability is best illustrated by Harvard University English professor and public intellectual Henry Louis Gates Jr., looking back at the 40 acres and a mule promise to newly freed slaves the first systemic attempt to mitigate racism: Try to imagine how profoundly different the history of race relations in the United States would have been had this policy been implemented and enforced; had the former slaves actually had access to the ownership of land, of property; if they had had a chance to be self-sufficient economically, to build, accrue and pass on wealth.

In 100 years, no one should have to imagine what might have been if the promises of equity and inclusion in 2020 were kept. Companies can be kept honest. Customers and consumers can demand that businesses promote the outcomes of their diversity programs, their process and even their struggles in the same way they promoted their aspirations a year ago.

The pledges made by American business last summer need not become the thoughts and prayers of the racial justice movement. Too much is at stake.

Ralinda Harvey Smith is a marketing and business strategy consultant and a freelance writer in Santa Monica. @ralinda

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Op-Ed: U.S. businesses pledged to support BLM. How have they done? - Los Angeles Times