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'Literally Celebrating Killing People': Chris Hayes Segment Details Growing Right-Wing Bloodlust
With a standing ovation for Kyle Rittenhouse, a right-wing gathering this week displayed "one of the most ominous, despicable developments in our politics in recent memory," said the MSNBC host.
Dec 22, 2021
In under nine minutes, MSNBC host Chris Hayes on Tuesday night summarized the American right wing's transformation in recent years into a political movement that openly celebrates violence, zeroing in on America Fest 2021--a conservative gathering taking place in Phoenix this week where Kyle Rittenhouse was celebrated by influential Fox News hosts and received a standing ovation.
Eighteen-year-old Rittenhouse, who was found not guilty last month of homicide charges after he shot and killed two people and wounded a third at racial justice protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year, "received the rock star treatment" at the summit, where organizers lit up a pyrotechnic display and the audience of 6,700 chanted Rittenhouse's name as he walked on stage.
The spectacle was indicative of "one of the most ominous, despicable developments in our politics in recent memory," said Hayes on his MSNBC show, "All In With Chris Hayes." He called the emergence of violence, particularly gun violence, as a "core identity aspect" of conservatives in the United States.
Watch:
America Fest 2021, said Hayes, "is the kind of place where we are seeing a certain grim aspect of right-wing politics getting increasingly more pronounced. It is a sort of celebration and modeling of fundamentally aberrant anti-social violent behavior, like being a jerk. That's the Donald Trump MAGA model, of course."
"The celebration of violence is one of the most ominous developments in American politics and [something that has] been happening for a long time. But they are putting it now in full display."
But while Turning Point USA, the right-wing group that hosts America Fest, helped catapult to fame Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia)--who have targeted progressives including Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Marie Newman (D-Ill.) with racist and anti-LGBTQ invective--Hayes emphasized that the key to being treated as a hero by the right is "not just rhetorical."
"As you saw with the welcome for Kyle Rittenhouse," Hayes said, "they are literally celebrating killing people."
Fox News host Tucker Carlson, whose show is one of the highest-rated on the network, was filmed backstage at America Fest excitedly greeting Rittenhouse, telling the teen--who has also received internship offers from multiple Republican lawmakers--"We're fans of yours, as you know."
Hayes said, "What does that mean? There's literally nothing to be a fan of."
"Kyle Rittenhouse is a child who shot and killed two people and wounded a third," he added. "That's his body of work. That's it. You're a fan of that."
Beyond the star treatment bestowed on Rittenhouse at America Fest, Hayes highlighted a statement "laced with violent rhetoric" by Fox News personality Jesse Watters, who urged journalists to "ambush" White House medical advisor Anthony Fauci with interviews about the origins of the coronavirus.
"Now you go in for the kill shot. This is when you say, 'Dr. Fauci, you funded risky research at a sloppy Chinese lab, the same lab that sprung this pandemic on the world,'" Watters told the crowd. "Boom, he is dead. He is dead. He's done."
Fauci has faced death threats since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which he has urged people to take life-saving precautions like social distancing, mask-wearing, and getting vaccinated against the disease.
Watters' "words come in the broader context of everything being said and done on the right and they were spoken at this America Fest event where they are celebrating Kyle Rittenhouse's literal kill shot against two people," Hayes said.
At one point during the gathering, host and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was forced to quickly tamp down a question from an audience member who wanted right-wing leaders to let the public know when they "get to use the guns."
"That's not a joke... I mean, literally, where's the line? How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?" the man said, repeating the lie pushed by former President Donald Trump about the 2020 election before Kirk hastily denounced his violent rhetoric.
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Hayes urged his audience to take the man's question seriously, noting that America Fest 2021 took place just weeks after the Public Religion Research Institute found that nearly 30% of Republicans believe "true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country."
The rhetoric at the gathering combined with "the fetishization of guns," the U.S. population's status as the most heavily armed country in the world, and "the celebration of violence is one of the most ominous developments in American politics and [something that has] been happening for a long time," said Hayes.
"But they are putting it now in full display," he added.
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'Saddening, Infuriating, and Utterly Unsurprising': Rittenhouse Acquitted
The verdict, said the Huber family, sends the "unacceptable message" that armed vigilantes can "use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street."
Nov 19, 2021
Racial justice advocates reacted with outrage and a complete lack of surprise Friday after a Kenosha, Wisconsin jury found Illinois teenager Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on all charges for killing two men and wounding a third during a 2020 protest against the police shooting of Jacob Blake, with some observers asserting that the verdict encourages vigilante attacks on protestors.
"Judge Bruce Schroeder presented a case study in how the judiciary upholds systems of white supremacy. And he's no anomaly."
Rejecting the prosecution's assertion that "you cannot claim self-defense against a danger you create," the nearly all-white jury acquitted Rittenhouse, who was 17 years old when he shot and killed Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle on August 25, 2020.
"We are heartbroken and angry that Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted in his criminal trial for the murder of our son Anthony Huber," the slain 26-year-old's family said in a statement. "There was no justice today for Anthony, or for Mr. Rittenhouse's other victims."
"Today's verdict means there is no accountability for the person who murdered our son," the statement continued. "It sends the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street."
Speaking outside the Kenosha County Courthouse after the verdict, Justin Blake, Jacob Blake's uncle, contended that "from day one, the judge had his hand on the scale."
"He didn't allow pictures. He didn't allow videotapes. He didn't allow. He didn't allow. He didn't allow," he said. "He was doing everything he could to allow this young man to leave the courtroom clear and free. It put blinds on the eyes of the jurors, and maybe because he did it, they didn't see the evidence how they could have seen it."
"He was doing everything he could to allow this young man to leave the courtroom clear and free," Blake added.
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence said it could "not forget the root of this issue."
"Kyle Rittenhouse murdered two people during protests against the police shooting of Jacob Blake," the group continued, referring to the Black man shot seven times in the back and paralyzed by Kenosha cop Rusten Sheskey. No charges were filed against Sheskey, who remains an officer today.
"Jacob Blake has yet to receive justice," Brady Center added. "We must continue to fight America's systemic racism, which fuels police violence and white vigilantism."
Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, said in a statement that "Rittenhouse's acquittal shows how the criminal justice system is designed to protect racist vigilantism."
"When Rittenhouse went to Kenosha last year he was continuing a long and ugly history in this country of white supremacists responding to multiracial movements for justice and civil rights with violence, and then claiming to be the victim," Cotler asserted.
"We saw this truth from the moment police allowed him to leave the scene after killing two people," he added, as well as "his brutal actions championed by politicians and pundits who routinely manufacture fear and division in order to hold onto power."
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) said in a statement that the verdict "is saddening, infuriating, and utterly unsurprising."
"It came at the end of a trial in which Judge Bruce Schroeder went out of his way to favor Rittenhouse in ways that would have been inconceivable were the defendant a Black person who had taken a semi-automatic rifle to a protest and killed two people," the group argued.
CCR continued:
After an aspiring militia leader invited "patriots" to combat "evil thugs," Rittenhouse, an Illinois, resident, was one of a group of heavily armed, pro-police paramilitaries who descended on the protests in Kenosha and to whom the local police provided their gratitude, support and encouragement.
Not surprisingly, Rittenhouse, with his link to the Proud Boys, has become a hero to white nationalists and many on the right. His racist vigilantism adds him to a long line of racist vigilantes, including George Zimmerman--Trayvon Martin's killer--and the three white men now on trial in Georgia for killing Ahmaud Arbery. Their actions are set against the backdrop of ongoing law-enforcement targeting and surveillance of Black-led organizing.
The People's City Council of Los Angeles said "white supremacy will do whatever it can to protect itself. Kyle Rittenhouse getting off should surprise no one."
"America is a racist, anti-Black country," the group added. "White supremacists around the country will now be emboldened to hunt down protestors."
Rashad Robinson, president of the racial justice group Color of Change, said in a statement that "Kyle Rittenhouse's acquittal doesn't just add insult to injury in this horrific case, it sends a dangerous and twisted message about how the legal system coddles white defendants accused of unconscionable crimes."
"For too long, the system--judges, lawyers, police officers--has accepted this as the norm, but we cannot tolerate this kind of negligence anymore; it's literally killing us," he continued. "Throughout the trial, we've seen the structural inequities within the legal system on full display."
"From dismissing the underage weapons charge to politicizing the straightforward facts of Rittenhouse's case, Kenosha County Judge Bruce Schroeder presented a case study in how the judiciary upholds systems of white supremacy," Robinson added. "And he's no anomaly. His behavior underscores how the entire legal apparatus perpetuates the existence of two criminal justice systems: one for white people and another for Black people."
U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) tweeted: "Kyle Rittenhouse is living proof that white tears can still forestall justice. A murderer is once again walking free today--our system is terribly broken."
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'Justice Was Not Served': No Charges Against Kenosha Cop Who Shot and Paralyzed Jacob Blake
"We feel this decision failed not only Jacob and his family, but the community that protested and demanded justice," said his attorneys.
Jan 04, 2021
A Wisconsin district attorney announced Tuesday that he will not file criminal charges against a white Kenosha officer, Rusten Sheskey, who on August 23 shot Jacob Blake in the back several times at point-blank range near a vehicle containing his children, paralyzing the Black 29-year-old and sparking deadly protests against police violence.
"This was a tragedy first and foremost for Jacob Blake, who still suffers from grievous injuries," said Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley during a Tuesday press conference while also revealing that "no Kenosha law enforcement officer in this case will be charged with any criminal offense based on the facts and the laws."
The decision drew condemnation from civil rights defenders and advocates of police reform who have long criticized U.S. law enforcement's treatment of people of color.
Ben Crump--a nationally renowned civil rights attorney retained by the family of Jacob Blake and others injured or killed by police--along with co-counsels Patrick A. Salvi II and B'Ivory LaMarr said in a joint statement that they were "immensely disappointed" in Graveley's decision "not to charge the officers involved in this horrific shooting."
"We feel this decision failed not only Jacob and his family, but the community that protested and demanded justice," the lawyers said. "Officer Sheskey's actions sparked outrage and advocacy throughout the country, but the district attorney's decision not to charge the officer who shot Jacob in the back multiple times, leaving him paralyzed, further destroys trust in our justice system."
"This sends the wrong message to police officers throughout the country. It says it is OK for police to abuse their power and recklessly shoot their weapon, destroying the life of someone who was trying to protect his children," they added. "It is now our duty to broaden the fight for justice on behalf of Jacob and the countless other Black men and women who are victims of racial injustice and police brutality in this country."
The lawyers vowed that they "will continue to press forward with a civil lawsuit and fight for systemic change in policing and transparency at all levels," and urged people across the country to "continue to raise their voices and demand change in peaceful and positive ways during this emotional time."
Chris Ott, executive director of the ACLU of Wisconsin, similarly expressed disappointment that the district attorney decided against "holding police accountable for another example of their repeated use of excessive force against people of color."
"This continues the cycle of enabling police violence and evading accountability when they seriously injure and harm a Black person," Ott said in a statement. "Based on the video footage of the incident, it remains hard to see any reason to shoot Mr. Blake in the back repeatedly. But, as we've seen so many times before, the police in this case were held to a different standard of responsibility than the rest of us."
"Kenosha has given another terrible example in a national pattern of police using excessive force against people of color during routine encounters, escalating situations instead of defusing them and then being given a pass," he said. "This officer will continue with his career with the mistaken belief that he has done no wrong, while Jacob Blake will remain paralyzed and left to deal with the consequences of this officer's actions. Today, justice was not served."
Denouncing Graveley's decision as "foul and shameful," NAACP president and CEO Derrick Johnson said, "It is yet another stark reminder of the free-willing atrocities committed against Black people at the hands of those entrusted to maintain public safety."
The district attorney explained Tuesday that he "would have to disprove the clear expression of these officers that they had to fire a weapon to defend themselves," and he did not believe the state would be able to do so.
According to the Associated Press:
Sheskey fired seven times, hitting Blake in the back four times and in the side three times, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Graveley said the shots in the side show [Blake] had twisted toward the officer.
Graveley showed reporters an enlarged photo of what he said was Blake's knife, adding that Blake acknowledged to investigators he had it. The district attorney walked reporters through how he would have prosecuted the case, saying jurors would have had to put themselves in Sheskey's position and that the officer's self-defense claims would have held up given the circumstances of the case.
[...] The officers were not equipped with body cameras.
Carl Takei, senior staff attorney with the ACLU's Trone Center for Justice and Equality said, "This decision--and the prosecutor's reliance on tropes of superhuman Black men to justify police fears--should not come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to police's role in Black communities since they began as slave patrols."
"All of this emphasizes how the criminal legal system, from police to prosecutors, have functioned to oppress and harm Black people," Takei added. "While accountability for the officer might have led to some semblance of justice, real justice would have been Jacob Blake never being shot in the first place."
Ahead of the announcement, the AP noted, Kenosha's Common Council "on Monday night unanimously approved an emergency resolution giving the mayor the power to impose curfews, among other things, and Gov. Tony Evers activated 500 National Guard troops to assist."
Johnson of the NAACP declared that "at this moment, the work of the American people is clear: we must continue to fight, organize, and mobilize against police brutality. Far too many Black lives have been damaged or lost due to the egregious malpractice of police officers, elected officials, and the justice system as a whole. While the visions of Jacob Blake, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others play over and over in our minds, we must not grow weary until we've achieved police liability and substantive change is realized."
Outrage over Blake's shooting led to protests this summer as part of a national wave of racial justice demonstrations that began after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, in May.
During Kenosha's summer protests, Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teenager from Illinois, allegedly shot and killed two protesters and wounded a third. Rittenhouse, who turned 18 after the incident, pleaded not guilty to all charges at a Tuesday hearing.
"This is sickening. No charges for the cop who shot Jacob Blake seven times, and meanwhile Kyle Rittenhouse is out on bail," Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of the advocacy group Indivisible, tweeted Tuesday. "There is no justice. The system is rotten to the core."
Scott Roberts, senior director of criminal justice campaigns at Color of Change, said Tuesday that "in the absence of justice today, Kenosha deserves a full accounting of the clear misconduct in this case and an commitment to protect Black communities from this form of violence that has been allowed to run rampant in our country."
"America's policing problem has always been a threat to public safety, but the issue is spiraling in Kenosha," Roberts said. "The crisis in Kenosha reveals the ugly, racist double-standard of American policing where an armed white gunman can be detained peacefully while an unarmed Black man gets seven bullets in his spine."
Roberts reiterated his organization's call for the removal of Sheskey and Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis as well as a U.S. Justice Department probe of the city police department's policies, in addition to its investigation into this case.
He also urged President-elect Joe Biden to "upend our policing system and reimagine public safety in a way that protects and affirms Black lives," emphasizing that "as local officials continue to allow police violence to go unchecked, we desperately need the president-elect to follow through on his commitments to police accountability by using the full force of the federal government to investigate individual police shootings, police departments as a whole, and the prosecutors who give them cover."
This post has been updated to reflect additions to the Associated Press report.
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America's Greatest Athletes Are Standing Up, Calling This Country To Change
Despite unprecedented, multiracial demonstrations across the country protesting police violence against African Americans, the horrors keep on coming.
Sep 01, 2020
The greatest athletes in America are standing up for justice at a critical time.
Despite unprecedented, multiracial demonstrations across the country protesting police violence against African Americans, the horrors keep on coming.
Last week, Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a policeman in Kenosha, Wisconsin. As the anger has grown, some of the protests have been marred by vandalism and looting. Now armed right-wing militia groups are escalating the tensions. In Kenosha, two demonstrators were murdered and one wounded by a 17-year-old Trump supporter illegally wielding an assault weapon.
It is into this cauldron that the professional basketball players of the NBA stood up, forcing a suspension of the playoffs, to support the call for justice. Their example was picked up by others--the WNBA, baseball players, tennis champions like Naomi Osaka and more.
This takes courage. Great athletes are taught to focus on their sport and to ignore their power in the culture. Owners, agents, managers and fans see them as entertainment, not as citizens or leaders.
Yet the very God-given gifts, discipline and skills that make a great athlete contribute to their capacity for leadership. In the Old Testament, little David honed his skill with a sling. When an oppressive horde led by a giant named Goliath threatened the Hebrew people, David stepped up, hurling the stone that slew the giant and saved his people.
Now America's greatest athletes are standing up, calling this country to change. They know that they will face criticism and abuse. They know that they could be risking their careers and livelihood.
When LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat players stood up in response to the death of Trayvon Martin, Americans across the country took notice. The same is true now as the current athletes focus on Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Jacob Blake and the others they name.
They know the risks, but they also know that when they leave the court or playing field and return to their families, they are just another Black person to the police, and must worry about how to protect their sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, or even themselves. Both Sterling Brown of the Milwaukee Bucks and Thabo Sefolosha of the Houston Rockets were victims of police lawlessness.
Here the example and leadership of LeBron James has been critical. Athletes across the world look up to him. When LeBron uses his platform to speak out--even in the face of insults from the president and others--he sets a tone and an example for others. In my opinion, he uses his gifts and platform so responsibly because it is his way of thanking God by serving others.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used his gifts and platform to change the culture. Today, athletes are using their commitment to call this country to its senses.
Great athletes have often been pacesetters. When Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson stood up to racially biased and arbitrary social mores, he impacted the culture. When Joe Lewis defeated Max Schmeling, he pummeled the entire Nazi theory and racist ideology. When Jesse Owens became the world's fastest man at the Berlin Olympics, Adolf Hitler wouldn't shake his hand, but when Owens came home, he told me President Roosevelt wouldn't shake his hand either. Jackie Robinson broke the racial barrier in baseball and bore the physical and psychological scars from doing it.
At the height of his career, Muhammad Ali, became a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, and paid the price of years stolen from his career. Every athlete should be grateful to Curt Flood for ending the reserve clause and gaining athletes the right to free agency to negotiate the best deal they could. Colin Kaepernick launched his nonviolent campaign against police killing of Black people four years ago that has cost him his career.
The athletes had to stop business as usual to gain attention. They have been in intense meetings figuring out how they can most be effective. They understand that the murders can't go on; the system must change. They are calling on others to join them. They are putting their time and their resources on the line. They've now convinced NBA owners to turn their arenas into polling places where people might vote safely.
Their actions have already had effect. It is too easy for cynical politicians and entrenched interests to turn attention from the injustice to the excesses that mar those protesting it. The players have forced our attention back to the injustice and to the core demand that Black Lives Matter. For that, they deserve our respect and our support.
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Family of Jacob Blake Hosts Block Party, Voter Drive to Drown Out 'Pain and Division' Brought by Trump Visit to Kenosha
"We're not going to get caught up with him," said Blake's uncle of the president. "We're here to heal Kenosha and push forward our agenda."
Sep 01, 2020
The community of Kenosha, Wisconsin countered President Donald Trump's visit to the city on Tuesday with a "Justice for Jacob" rally in the neighborhood where Jacob Blake was shot by a police officer last week, intent on spending the day focused on "resilience and compassion."
"We don't need more pain and division from a president set on advancing his campaign at the expense of our city," Jacob Blake's uncle, Justin Blake, told local ABC affiliate WISN. "We need justice and relief for our community."
The rally took the form of a block party, complete with refreshments, music, a community clean-up effort, and voter registration booths.
The local racial justice group Black Lives Activists of Kenosha promoted the event on social media, writing to those promoting white supremacy and injustice in the community, "You cannot take what is not yours!"
"The community gathering will highlight the contrast between President Trump's divisive and inflammatory statements and the nonviolent demonstrations held by Jacob Blake's family," organizers said ahead of the event.
As the community gathered to register voters ahead of the November general election and promote healing from Blake's shooting, Trump visited parts of the city where people have held protests in recent days and accused the demonstrators of "domestic terror."
The president announced his visit to the city over the weekend, emphasizing that he wanted to meet with law enforcement. The Kenosha police force has been harshly criticized by civil rights advocates over leaders' response to Blake's shooting and the resulting protests. After Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teenager, traveled to Kenosha with a semi-automatic weapon and was charged with killing two demonstrators, Police Chief Daniel Miskinis said in a press briefing that had the victims complied with a city-wide curfew, they would not have been shot. Officers were also seen on video sympathetically talking with the armed citizens who descended on the city.
On Monday, Trump also defended Rittenhouse, saying the shooting was justified on grounds of self-defense.
Justin Blake told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Trump's defense of Rittenhouse is "the language that got us here."
"That's the language that fed police officers all around this country [the belief] that they could attack young, unarmed Black men and shoot them in the back seven times," he said. "And that's why I'm not directing anything toward that gentleman today, and I use that term loosely."
At his roundtable with law enforcement, Trump repeated an earlier statement that many officers who shoot unarmed civilians simply "choke," or make a mistake as one might while playing a sport, and denied that police shootings are a systemic issue.
"I think the police do an incredible job," the president said, adding that the news media should focus on "anarchists" and rioters who attend protests after police shootings.
Trump was joined by Attorney General Bill Barr, who said that looting and arson are "simply not a legitimate response to a police shooting." Barr did not address Rittenhouse's murder charges.
"We're not going to get caught up with him," said Justin Blake of the president. "He wishes we would and we're not. We're here to heal Kenosha and push forward our agenda."
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'Dark Shadows' and 'Air Force One' Trend After Trump Floats Conspiracy Theories About Biden and Plane 'Full of Thugs' in Bizarre Fox Interview
The president also compared police shootings of Black people to golfers who "choke" under pressure.
Sep 01, 2020
The phrases "dark shadows" and "Air Force One" began trending on social media Tuesday after President Donald Trump posited a baseless conspiracy theory that people in "dark shadows" are controlling his Democratic rival Joe Biden, and that his administration was investigating a plane "almost completely loaded with thugs," without specifiying their identities or origin.
"What does that mean, 'dark shadows'? That sounds like a conspiracy theory."
--Laura Ingraham to President Trump
The president's bizarre comments came during a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham in which he accused Biden of being "weak" and "controlled like a puppet."
When Ingraham asked who he thought was "pulling Biden's strings," Trump said, "people that you've never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows."
The comment was apparently too much for even a staunch Trump supporter like Ingraham. "What does that mean? That sounds like a conspiracy theory," she asked. "Dark shadows. What is that?"
"There are people that are on the streets, there are people that are controlling the streets," Trump insisted. "We had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend, and in the plane, it was almost completely loaded with thugs, wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms, with gear and this and that."
The president offered absolutely no evidence to support his claim. Seeing Ingraham's puzzled expression, he said he would tell her "sometime," and that "it's under investigation right now."
Twitter erupted in ridicule following Trump's groundless allegations, with some users questioning the president's mental state, and others calling Air Force One the "plane loaded with thugs."
Others noted the nearly identical nature of the president's claim with a debunked viral rumor from June claiming a "plane load" of "Antifa agitators" would be storming Idaho, which led to heavily armed white residents taking to the streets of some of the state's cities and towns.
Trump also used the Ingraham interview to disparage the Black Lives Matter movement, which he falsely called a "Marxist organization."
"The first time I ever heard of Black Lives Matter, I said, 'That's a terrible name. It's so discriminatory,'" he said. "It's bad for Black people. It's bad for everybody."
Sticking to his tough "law and order" message, Trump defended police, telling Ingraham that they are "under siege," before comparing officers who shoot Black people to golfers stricken with the yips.
"They can do 10,000 great acts, which is what they do, and one bad apple, or a choker... they choke... shooting the guy in the back many times," the president said in an apparent reference to Jacob Blake, the Black man who was paralyzed after being shot multiple times in the back by a Kenosha, Wisconsin officer on August 23.
"I mean, couldn't you have done something different, couldn't you have wrestled him?" Trump asked. "[Blake] might've been going for a weapon, but they choke, just like in a golf tournament, they miss a three-foot putt," Trump said. His comments drew stinging criticism from observers who noted the murder by asphyxiation of George Floyd, Eric Garner, and other victims by the hands of police.
Trump is correct, sometimes police officers do choke, right George Floyd?
-- Name is Bishop(@BishesBrew) September 1, 2020
Ultimately, Ingraham cut Trump off.
This drew a swift rebuke from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who tweeted that "you know things are bad when Laura Ingraham has to save President Trump from saying stupid things."
The president wasn't finished. He also lied about the state of affairs in Portland, Oregon, claiming that the city has "been burning for many years, for decades" before he took office.
This wasn't Trump's first foray into the realm of conspiracy theories. His political rise can be traced to his propagation of racist "birther" theories regarding former President Barack Obama's citizenship, and before and during his presidency he has helped spread false theories about everything from the origins of the coronavirus pandemic to QAnon and Pizzagate. Trump's willingness to embrace baseless rumors has earned him the moniker among some pundits of "conspiracy theorist-in-chief."
Trump's comments came as he prepared to travel to Wisconsin in the wake of the Blake shooting and the killing of two Black Lives Matter protesters, allegedly by teen gunman Kyle Rittenhouse, last week. The president headed to Kenosha despite pleas by Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian, and others for him to stay away, and warnings that his presence could further inflame violence.
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'Get Your Knee Off Our Necks': On 57th Anniversary of Historic Civil Rights Rally, Tens of Thousands March on Washington
"We've been here before, but this time we know that it is necessary to redefine public safety in order to save black lives."
Aug 28, 2020
An estimated 50,000 people are expected to attend the "Get Your Knee Off Our Necks" March in Washington, D.C. on Friday as racial justice advocates gather to mark the 57th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech at the 1963 March on Washington and commit to fighting for meaningful criminal justice reform.
The name of the rally, led by Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network (NAN), refers to the killing of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers in May, which sparked a nationwide uprising over police brutality and helped pressure several cities to begin reassessing policing in their communities.
"Whether they are rallying on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial or from the safety of their homes and community streets, people are meeting this moment with demands and hope for change."
--National Action Network
The gathering comes days after the shooting of Jacob Blake by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Blake is currently recovering in a hospital and is paralyzed from the waist down, according to his family. At a protest decrying his shooting on Tuesday night, a white 17-year-old gunman killed two people and injured another.
"Today is a chance for people around the nation to gather together to confront racial injustices in our police precincts and courthouses," said NAN, which is partnering with the NAACP, the National Urban League, the Hispanic Federation, and several labor unions and civil rights groups to organize the rally. "We've been here before, but this time we know that it is necessary to redefine public safety in order to save Black lives. Whether they are rallying on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial or from the safety of their homes and community streets, people are meeting this moment with demands and hope for change."
"Today is a day that all across the nation, in the midst of stacked pandemics--Covid-19 and racism--we address the national government and demand improved policing practices so that we stop the unwarranted killing and incarcerations of Black people," the group added.
The rally will be headlined by Sharpton and will feature speeches by the family members of several Black Americans killed by police in recent years, including Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Eric Garner, as well as progressive Kentucky lawmaker Charles Booker, Missouri congressional candidate Cori Bush, and Martin Luther King III.
*******
In addition to the crisis of violent policing faced by communities across the U.S., the rally will focus on voting rights ahead of the November general election, NAN said.
"This intergenerational inclusive day of action will demonstrate our advocacy for comprehensive police accountability reform, the census, and mobilizing voters for the November elections," the organization said on the event website.
For supporters who are unable to attend the demonstration in person, NAN is broadcasting the rally in its entirety online.
Ahead of the march, the ACLU tweeted King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, which he delivered to more than 200,000 people at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. The group shared the speech alongside present-day images of racial justice advocates demonstrating against recent police killings.
"And so we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice." #IHaveADream pic.twitter.com/4CJCvJmZeO
Organizers of the march are observing public health guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid-19. All attendees are required to wear face coverings, under a mandate from Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. Those who don't have a face mask will be given one when they arrive.
Organizers are also taking people's temperatures when they arrive and providing hand sanitizer, signage reminding participants to socially distance, and chairs positioned six feet away from one another on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where speakers will be appearing.
Journalists reporting from the rally posted videos on social media of participants arriving, hours before the speeches were set to start.
Friday also marks the 65th anniversary of the torture and murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till, whose killing helped galvanize the civil rights movement.
"The March for Justice is not done," tweeted Booker ahead of the rally. "Dr. King had a dream. As the legacy of that dream, we are standing now to demand change."
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Securing 'Real Change' for Voting Rights, NBA Players Strike Wins Use of Stadiums for Polling Stations, Other Reforms
"Don't give into something that hasn't happened. Keep pushing, keep working."
Aug 28, 2020
Following a multi-team strike protesting police brutality and systemic racism in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake earlier this week, players and league officials reached a deal Friday to resume the NBA playoffs, and agreed to use the league's stadiums as voting locations for the November general election.
"We're all tired of just seeing the same thing over and over again."
--Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul
"Why strike, a lot of people asked," Matt Eagle, national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times wrote in a tweet following the announcement. "The players have used their leverage with the owners to turn the NBA into a get-out-the-vote organization, aiming to use stadiums as polling places, among other things."
In a statement, National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts and NBA commissioner Adam Silver listed three developments that resulted from talks with players and league leaders over the past couple of days.
The deal includes establishing a social justice coalition--with representatives from players, coaches, and governors--to be focused on "increasing access to voting, promoting civic engagement, and advocating for meaningful police and criminal justice reform." In addition, the league will sponsor advertising spots during each playoff game "promoting greater civic engagement in national and local elections and raising awareness around voter access and opportunity."
The portion of the deal that has earned the most attention is the agreement to use NBA stadiums as voting centers in the upcoming November election.
"In every city where the league franchise owns and controls the arena property, team governors will continue to work with local elections officials to convert the facility into a voting location for the 2020 general election to allow for a safe in-person voting option for communities vulnerable to Covid," the statement reads. "If a deadline has passed, team governors will work with local elections officials to find another election-related use for the facility, including but not limited to voter registration and ballot receiving boards."
Players, journalists, and civil rights advocates celebrated the announcement as details continue to emerge about the police shooting of 29-year-old Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin Sunday.
Blake is alive and recovering in a hospital but is paralyzed from the waist down, according to his family. At a protest decrying his shooting on Tuesday night, a white 17-year-old gunman killed two people and injured another.
"We're all tired of just seeing the same thing over and over again," Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul said in an interview. "And everybody just expects us to be OK just because we get paid great money. We're human. We have real feelings and I'm glad we got a chance to get in a room together to talk to one another."
"NBA players are doing more to make voting accessible than our own government," Democratic strategist and journalist Max Burns tweeted.
"Just because something hasn't happened doesn't mean it can't happen," Doc Rivers, former NBA player and coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, told Yahoo! Sports. "Don't give into something that hasn't happened. Keep pushing, keep working."
"We needed a moment to breathe. It's not lost on me that George Floyd didn't get that moment," Rivers continued, referring to the 46-year-old Black man who died after a Minnesota police officer held his knee on Floyd's neck for several minutes in May. "But we did, and we took it, and the players took it... I slept very well last night, thinking that our young people spoke. That was fantastic."
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'Wild and Timely' Report Details Infiltration of Far-Right Militias and White Supremacist Groups in US Police Departments
The study comes amid unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the latest high-profile police shooting of a Black man and the shooting deaths of two protesters by an alleged far-right militia member.
Aug 27, 2020
As law enforcement agencies and lawmakers respond to nationwide outrage over countless police shootings of Black Americans with pledges to address racial profiling and "implicit bias," the Brennan Center for Justice released a report Thursday on what it called "an especially harmful form of bias, which remains entrenched within law enforcement: explicit racism."
The presence of virulent racism within police ranks across the country has grown over the past two decades, Brennan Center fellow and former FBI special agent Michael German wrote in the report, as white supremacist and far-right militant groups have infiltrated law enforcement agencies.
"While it is widely acknowledged that racist officers subsist within police departments around the country, federal, state, and local governments are doing far too little to proactively identify them, report their behavior to prosecutors who might unwittingly rely on their testimony in criminal cases, or protect the diverse communities they are sworn to serve," wrote German. "Efforts to address systemic and implicit biases in law enforcement are unlikely to be effective in reducing the racial disparities in the criminal justice system as long as explicit racism in law enforcement continues to endure. There is ample evidence to demonstrate that it does."
According to the report, titled "Hidden in Plain Sight," police officers with alleged ties to white supremacist groups or violent far-right militias have been identified in states including Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.
The report was called "wild and timely" by attorney and writer Madiba K. Dennie, as it was released two days after police in Kenosha, Wisconsin appeared to welcome the presence of armed militias at a protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man who was left paralyzed.
As Common Dreams reported Thursday, cell phone video showed police telling armed white people that they "appreciated them being there" and handing them bottled water. One of the people in the video appeared to be a 17-year-old gunman who allegedly shot three people at the protest, killing two.
Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis blamed the victims for being at the protest after a city-wide curfew while defending the suspected gunman and other militia members for "exercising their constitutional rights."
Footage of Kenosha Sheriff David Beth saying in 2018 that Black people who shoplift are "a cancer to our society" and "have to be warehoused" also surfaced on Wednesday, sparking alarm and outrage over the official's open racism.
The ACLU on Thursday called for the immediate resignation of Beth and Miskinis.
The conduct of police in Kenosha offers only the most recent evidence that law enforcement agencies in the U.S. have sympathy for if not direct ties to far-right militias and white supremacist groups, according to German's report.
Police in states including California, Oregon, and Illinois are currently being investigated for their alleged connections to far-right groups that oppose the Black Lives Matter movement, with many law enforcement officers engaging "in overtly racist activities in public, on social media, or over law enforcement-only communication channels and internet chat rooms."
Earlier this year, an officer in Salem, Oregon was caught on video asking "heavily armed white men dressed like militia to step inside a building or sit in their cars while the police arrested protesters."
The officer said he made the request "so we don't look like we're playing favorites."
Officials in Olympia, Washington opened an investigation into an officer who posed for a photograph with a heavily armed far-right militia group called Three Percent of Washington, allegedly after the officer thanked the group for guarding a shopping center.
The Brennan Center noted that few safeguards exist at the local and federal level to root out police officers who have ties to far-right militant groups or white supremacy.
The failure to respond to evidence of explicit racism among police officers "signals to white supremacists and far-right militants that their illegal acts enjoy government approval and authorization, making them all the more brazen and dangerous. Winning back public trust requires transparent and equal enforcement of the law, effective oversight, and public accountability that prioritizes targeted communities' interests."
In addition to working to end implicit bias in policing, German wrote, agencies must establish mitigation plans when overt racism is detected in their ranks.
"Mitigation plans could include referrals to internal affairs, local prosecutors, or the DOJ for investigation and prosecution; termination or other disciplinary action; limitations of assignments to reduce potentially problematic contact with the public; retraining; and intensified supervision and auditing," German wrote.
The report also called on the FBI to determine whether its domestic terrorist investigations involving white supremacists uncover any connections to law enforcement, and whether police officers investigated for civil rights violations "have connections to violent white supremacist organizations or other far-right militant groups, have a record of discriminatory behavior, or have a history of posting explicitly racist commentary in public or on social media platforms."
"The most effective way for law enforcement agencies to restore public trust and prevent racism from influencing law enforcement actions is to prohibit individuals who are members of white supremacist groups or who have a history of explicitly racist conduct from becoming law enforcement officers in the first place, or from remaining officers once bias is demonstrated," German wrote.
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Outrage Grows Over Police Treatment of Alleged Kenosha Killer Kyle Rittenhouse Compared to Shooting Victim Jacob Blake
In the streets and on social media, anger and questions about systemic racism and white privilege abound in the wake of Kenosha shootings.
Aug 27, 2020
Anger and questions mounted on Wednesday night and into Thursday over the disparity in police treatment of Jacob Blake, a Black man shot numerous times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin while intervening to stop a fight, and Kyle Rittenhouse, the heavily--and unlawfully--armed white teen who was given a pass by officers after he allegedly shot and killed two Kenosha protesters.
Veteran Kenosha officer Rusten Sheskey fired seven shots at Blake, a 29-year-old father of five, hitting him four times in the back at near point-blank range on Sunday, paralyzing him from the waist down as three of his children looked on. Police said they found a knife under the floorboard of Blake's car, although there are no claims he was threatening anyone with it.
Bishop Talbert Swan, president of the Springfield, Mass. chapter of the NAACP, tweeted video of a white man menacing police officers with a bladed weapon in response to critics playing up Blake's knife.
Blake's shooting stands in stark contrast with the police treatment of Rittenhouse, an aspiring cop and staunch supporter of President Donald Trump whose social media accounts are brimming with Blue Lives Matter posts, and who boasted online about being an armed vigilante. The teen, who posted numerous photos in which he poses with guns, apparently heeded calls on social media encouraging armed militia members to travel to Kenosha to protect property from "evil thugs," and urging "patriots" to "shoot to kill."
The 17-year-old teen--the age to legally carry firearms in public in Wisconsin is 18--is seen in a video with other armed civilians violating Kenosha's 8:00 pm curfew. However, police challenged neither of these violations. Instead, officers in armored vehicles gave them water and told them that, "we appreciate you guys, we really do," while simultaneously ordering protesters to disperse and accusing them of "trespassing."
Cellphone video shows Rittenhouse running away after shooting three people, two of them fatally. "I've just killed someone," he says. Only one of the victims, 26-year-old Anthony Huber of Silver Lake, Wisc., has been identified as of Thursday morning.
Anthony Huber was the one to run up on the shooter last night and was shot in the chest and left to bleed out by the cops. He leaves behind his daughter and his girlfriend. His initial reaction was to try to protect others and he lost his life for that. Rest in power, comrade. pic.twitter.com/DD71cyYODq
-- Red Bait (@red_baiting) August 26, 2020
After the shooting, Rittenhouse walked toward police with his hands in the air, his rifle slung across his chest, as protesters shouted to the officers that the teen had just shot two people. The officers allowed Rittenhouse to pass unmolested. He was able to travel back to his hometown of Antioch, Illinois, some 20 miles (32 km) away, before finally being arrested the following day and subsequently charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
Outraged observers took to Twitter and other social media to note the racist double standards and white privilege highlighted by the two shootings.
"Jacob Blake was shot several times in the back while walking away from police officers," tweeted Nathalie Baptiste, a reporter for Mother Jones. "Kyle Rittenhouse made it all the way home before being arrested. Law and order is only for certain people."
Some compared the latest incidents to past police shootings of Black people and the treatment afforded to white shooters, including Dylann Roof, who massacred nine Black worshippers at a Charleston, South Carolina church in 2015.
Others criticized media coverage of the incidents.
"A 17-year-old white supremacist domestic terrorist drove across state lines armed with an AR-15," tweeted Rep. Ayanna Presssley (D-Mass.). "He shot and killed 2 people who had assembled to affirm the value, dignity, and worth of Black lives. Fix your damn headlines."
On Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," host Trevor Noah wondered "why some people get shot seven times in the back while other people are treated like human beings and reasoned with and taken into custody with no bullets in their bodies."
Meanwhile, Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis blamed Rittenhouse's victims for their own deaths because they were "out after curfew"--as was the shooter--while defending vigilantes' right to "exercise their constitutional rights."
As professional athletes and teams from numerous sports and leagues postponed games in protest of police killings of Blake, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, right-wing media and sports personalities defended and even applauded Rittenhouse, while demonizing victims of police and white supremacist violence. Popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson said that Rittenhouse "had to maintain order," while disgraced former San Francisco Giants slugger Aubrey Huff, who has been disinvited from the team's 2010 World Series championship reunion over past racist and misogynistic comments, called the teen "a national treasure."
At the Republican National Convention, police brutality and the Kenosha killings went virtually unmentioned, while speakers heaped praise upon President Donald Trump for his tough "law and order" rhetoric. Trump, who has often been accused of courting and even inspiring white supremacists, has been conspicuously silent in the wake of the Kenosha shootings.
Some RNC speakers decried the looting and "mobs" in cities run by Democrats while ignoring police and racist violence.
"From Seattle to Portland to Washington and New York, Democrat-run cities across this country are being overrun by violent mobs," South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said. "There's looting, chaos, destruction and murder."
Some commentators wondered what it would take for many white Americans to finally see the racism that so many others are protesting.
"The fundamental unfairness of [the Blake and Rittenhouse] tragedies in one Wisconsin city... should be enough for even the most stubborn of white Americans to understand why people are marching to assert and rightfully demand that Black lives matter," wrote Chicago Tribune columnist Rex Huppke. "The clear-as-glass unfairness of it all should be enough."
But, he concludes, "it won't be."
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