Tag Archives: police violence

What a guilty verdict can’t do

Almost everyone exhaled. A jury convicted the former police officer who murdered George Floyd, and everyone in the United States must have been tuned in. It was an extremely unusual verdict; criminal prosecution of police violence against Black men is … Continue reading

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Cases, Causes, and the next wave of Black Lives Matter

Judge Peter A. Cahill, presiding in Derrick Chauvin’s murder trial, denied a defense motion to sequester the jury. Chauvin, working as a Minneapolis police officer, strangled George Floyd to death last year. His defense wants to keep the rest of … Continue reading

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Statuary impacts: complex causality, the limits of social science, and striking Gen. Lee’s statue

In the wake of a dozen days and nights of protest against racialized police violence, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam ordered the removal of a statue of General Robert E. Lee, that has loomed over the state capital’s Monument Park for … Continue reading

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Protest, Riot, and Rebellion in Minneapolis

Protesters took to the streets of Minneapolis in response to the police killing of George Floyd. And they stayed. Some wore masks and tried to observe public health protocols for social distance. Some carried gas masks. Some broke windows of … Continue reading

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#BlackLivesMatter & #NeverAgain

Edna Chavez, a student leader from South Los Angeles, spoke powerfully at Saturday’s rally, and stood up for Stephon Clark. (I missed it the first time through, overwhelmed by the crowd chanting the name of her murdered brother, “Ricardo.”) In … Continue reading

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#MarchforOurLives and #BlackLivesMatter: more to come…

I didn’t hear Stephon Clark’s name at the spectacular Washington, DC March for Our Lives. Days before, Sacramento police shot and killed Clark in his grandmother’s backyard. They thought they saw Clark holding a gun, and fired 20 times to protect … Continue reading

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What hath Colin Kaepernick wrought

Donald Trump has ensured that the silent protests during the national anthem Colin Kaepernick started last year would not vanish into the ether like a career in professional sports. Protest politics is all about generating reactions, and this president always … Continue reading

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Trump’s rally turnout, unlike Trump, modest

The pro-Trump “Mother of All Rallies” turned out a few hundred demonstrators in Washington, DC, rather than the planned thousands. Sympathy rallies across the country were much smaller–or canceled altogether. Photos showing the assembled on an almost empty mall circulated on … Continue reading

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All-star politics and the messy influence of protest; Black Lives Matter and basketball

The National Basketball League plays its annual All-Star Game in New Orleans this long weekend, offering an odd window into an impact of protest movements. (Note: David Zirin has been writing about this for a while.) Despite its charms, New … Continue reading

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Persistence, part III: William Barber is ready

As the demonstration and discussions about the killing of Keith Scott continued, The New York Times found an activist voice to explain what was going on. On the Op-Ed page, Rev. Dr. William Barber published “Why are we protesting in Charlotte,”  … Continue reading

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