Black Lives Matter

12 FBI agents fired for kneeling during protest sue to get their jobs back

Twelve former FBI agents fired after kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest in Washington sued Monday to get their jobs back, saying their action had been intended to de-escalate a volatile situation and was not meant as a political gesture. The agents say in their lawsuit that they were fired in September by Director Kash Patel because they were perceived as not being politically affiliated with President Donald Trump. But they say their decision to take a knee on June 4, 2020, days after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, has been misinterpreted as political expression. The lawsuit says the agents were assigned to patrol the nation's capital during a period of civil unrest prompted by Floyd's death. Lacking protective gear or extensive training in crowd control, the agents became outnumbered by hostile crowds they encountered and decided to kneel to the ground in hopes of defusing the tension, the lawsuit said. The tactic worked, the lawsuit assert

FBI fires agents photographed kneeling during 2020 racial justice protest

The FBI has fired agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, three people familiar with the matter have said. The bureau had reassigned the agents last spring but has since fired them, said the people, who insisted on anonymity to discuss personnel matters with The Associated Press. The number of FBI employees fired was not immediately clear, but two people said it was roughly 20. An FBI spokesman declined to comment Friday.

Ex-cop who mistook Black man's phone for gun gets 15 yrs to life for murder

A former Ohio police officer convicted of murder in the shooting of Andre Hill, a Black man who was holding a cellphone and keys when he was killed, was given a mandatory sentence Monday of 15 years to life. Former Columbus officer Adam Coy shot Hill four times in a garage in December 2020, as the country reckoned with a series of police killings of Black men, women and children. He told jurors that he feared for his life because he thought Hill was holding a silver revolver. Coy, who is being treated for Hodgkin lymphoma, told the court Monday he plans to appeal the verdict. I feel my actions were justified, Coy said. I reacted the same way I had in hundreds of training scenarios. I drew and fired my weapon to stop a threat, protect myself and my partner." Prosecutors said Hill followed police commands and was never a threat to Coy. In victim impact statements Monday, Hill's sisters and ex-wife described the 47-year-old as a gentle man who had never met a stranger. His grandchild

Thousands mark 5th anniversary of George Floyd's murder, slam Trump

Police reform and civil-rights activists joined thousands of ordinary people on Sunday to mark the fifth anniversary of George Floyd's murder and decry the Trump administration for actions they say set their efforts back decades. The Rev. Al Sharpton said at a graveside service with the dead man's family in Houston that Floyd, 46, represented all of those who are defenceless against people who thought they could put their knee on our neck. He compared Floyd's killing to that of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black child who was abducted, mutilated and slain in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman. What Emmett Till was in his time, George Floyd has been for this time in history, Sharpton said. *Site of his death Events in Minneapolis centered around George Floyd Square, the intersection where police Officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin Floyd's neck to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes, even as Floyd cried I can't breathe. By midday Sunday, a steady str

Iconic 'Black Lives Matter' mural removed post Trump's encroachment threats

Bowser, a Democrat, ordered the painting and renamed the intersection Black Lives Matter Plaza as a public act of defiance in June 2020

Washington DC to remove 'Black Lives Matter' painting near WH: Mayor

The nation's capital city will remove the large painting of the words Black Lives Matter on a street one block from the White House as Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser struggles to fend off threats of encroachment from both President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress. Bowser pointed to the change on the social platform X on Tuesday, writing: The mural inspired millions of people and helped our city through a painful period, but now we can't afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference. The devastating impacts of the federal job cuts must be our number one concern. The move shows Bowser's striking shift in tone toward Trump and congressional Republicans since the president's first term in office. Bowser, a Democrat, ordered the painting and renamed the intersection Black Lives Matter Plaza as a public act of defiance in June 2020. It came after days of chaotic protests at that location over police brutality following the killing of George Floyd by

Judge allows testing tissue from George Floyd as convict seeks new trial

A judge has granted permission to lawyers for Derek Chauvin to have samples from George Floyd examined as part of the former Minneapolis police officer's efforts to challenge his conviction on a federal civil rights charge stemming from Floyd's death in 2020. US District Judge Paul Magnuson agreed in an order Monday to let the defence examine Floyd's heart tissue and fluid samples to test a theory that Floyd died of a heart condition aggravated by a rare tumour, not as prosecutors contend from asphyxiation caused by the white officer pressing his knee on the Black man's neck for 9 1/2 minutes despite Floyd's dying cries of, I can't breathe. Floyd's death touched off protests worldwide, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism. Chauvin was convicted in state court on murder charges in 2021 and pleaded guilty later that year in federal court to violating Floyd's civil rights. His federal defender for his appeal attempt, Robert ..

Kentucky ex-officer convicted for using excessive force on Breonna Taylor

A federal jury on Friday convicted a former Kentucky police detective of using excessive force on Breonna Taylor during a botched 2020 drug raid that left her dead. The 12-member jury returned the late night verdict after clearing Brett Hankison earlier in the evening on a charge that he used excessive force on Taylor's neighbors. Some members of the jury were in tears as the verdict was read around 9:30 p.m. Friday. Hankison fired 10 shots into Taylor's glass door and windows during the raid, but didn't hit anyone. Some shots flew into a next-door neighbor's adjoining apartment. The death of the 26-year-old Black woman, along with the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, sparked racial injustice protests nationwide. It's the first conviction of a Louisville police officer who was involved in the deadly raid. A separate jury deadlocked on federal charges against Hankison last year, while in 2022, a jury acquitted Hankison on state charges of wanton endangerment

Black Americans express concerns about racist depictions in news media

In a new study, Black Americans expressed broad concerns about how they are depicted in the news media, with majorities saying they see racist or negative depictions and a lack of effort to cover broad segments of their community. Four in five Black adults say they see racist or racially insensitive depictions of their race in the news either often or sometimes, according to the Pew Research Centre. Three years after George Floyd's killing triggered a racial reckoning in the news media, Pew took its first broad-based look at Black attitudes toward the media with a survey of nearly 5,000 Black adults this past winter and follow-up focus groups. The survey found 63 per cent of respondents saying news about Black people is often more negative than it is toward other racial or ethnic groups, with 28 per cent saying it is about equal. It's not surprising at all, said Charles Whitaker, dean of the Medill journalism school at Northwestern University. "We've known both anecdotally, and ..

Black kids are 6 times more likely to be strip-searched, says UK report

Black children in England and Wales were six times more likely to be strip-searched by police, according to a report being released Monday that found children were failed by those sworn to protect them. Children's Commissioner Rachel de Souza found nearly 3,000 children were strip-searched between 2018 and mid-2022 and more than half the searches were conducted without an appropriate adult present. The investigation was launched after a Black 15-year-old girl suspected of having marijuana was strip-searched at a London school in 2020 by two female officers without another adult present. The girl, identified as Child Q, was menstruating and no drugs were found. A previous report said racism was a likely factor for the humiliating search. The bravery of a girl to speak up about a traumatic thing that happened to her led to the report that found widespread noncompliance of safeguards and evidence of a "deeply concerning practice, de Souza said. The findings follow a scathing report la

Fate of last ex-cop charged in George Floyd murder lies with judge

The attorney for a former Minneapolis police officer who held back bystanders while his colleagues restrained a dying George Floyd said in court filings Tuesday that his client is innocent of criminal wrongdoing and should be acquitted on state charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter. But prosecutors argued in their filings that Tou Thao acted without courage and displayed no compassion despite his nearly nine years of experience and that he disregarded his training even though he could see Floyd's life slowly ebbing away. Tuesday was the deadline for prosecutors and defence attorneys to file final written arguments in the case of Thao, the last of the four former officers facing judgement in Floyd's killing. The state and federal cases against Derek Chauvin and the two other officers involved have largely been resolved, except for Chauvin's appeal of his murder conviction. But Thao asked Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill to decide, based on stipulated evidence, ...

Minneapolis ex-cop who kneeled on George Floyd's back gets 3.5-year term

The former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on George Floyd's back while another officer kneeled on the Black man's neck was sentenced Friday to 3 1/2 years in prison. J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty in October to a state count of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. In exchange, a charge of aiding and abetting murder was dropped. Kueng is already serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd's civil rights, and the state and federal sentence will be served at the same time. Kueng, who is already serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd's civil rights, appeared at his sentencing hearing via video from a federal prison in Ohio. When given the chance to address the court, he declined. Floyd's family members had the right to make victim impact statements, but none did. Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after former Officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd's neck for 9 1/2 minutes as Floyd repeatedly said he couldn't breathe and eventually went limp. The killing, whi

5 officers in Connecticut charged after Black man paralysed in police van

Five Connecticut police officers were charged Monday with cruelly neglecting a Black man after he was partially paralyzed in the back of a police van, despite his repeated and desperate pleas for help. Randy Cox, 36, was being driven to a New Haven police station June 19 for processing on a weapons charge when the driver braked hard at an intersection to avoid a collision, causing Cox to fly headfirst into a metal partition in the van. I can't move. I'm going to die like this. Please, please, please help me, Cox said minutes after the crash. As Cox pleaded for help, some of the officers at the detention center mocked him and accused him of being drunk and faking his injuries, according to dialogue captured by surveillance and body-worn camera footage. Officers dragged Cox by his feet from the van and placed him in a holding cell prior to his eventual transfer to a hospital. I think I cracked my neck, Cox said after the van arrived at the detention center. You didn't crack it, no,

Breonna Taylor killing: Feds charge 4 US police officers for death

US Justice Department announced charges against four Louisville police officers over the drug raid that led to the death of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman.

Black Lives Matter invested $32 mn in stocks, has $42 mn in assets: Report

The tax filing suggests the organisation is still finding its footing: It currently has no executive director or in-house staff

US jurors awards $14 million to George Floyd protesters in Denver

Jurors on Friday found police used excessive force against protesters, violating their constitutional rights, during demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd two years ago

Jury in federal trial in George Floyd killing appears mostly white

A jury of 18 people who appeared mostly white was picked for the federal trial of three Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd's killing

Jury selection begins in federal trial over George Floyd's killing

Jury selection began Thursday in the federal trial of three Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd's killing

How local politics and nationalism shaped football as we know it today

The sport, which began capturing global imagination just after World War I, has been used as a platform to make political and racial statements and broadcast ethnic identities

Why Black lives matter

Book review of WHY WE KNEEL, HOW WE RISE