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A rifle-toting veteran who once spent time in the National Guard was arrested Tuesday morning in Los Angeles after he reportedly dressed up in a uniform resembling those worn by California National Guard troops and attempted to fall into formation during the citys anti-racism demonstrations.

Gregory Wong, 31, allegedly arrived equipped with multiple weapons after taking an Uber to the scene of the protests that have surged in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, CBS Los Angeles reported.

Once downtown, Wong reportedly joined a formation of guardsmen who had recently arrived to monitor select sites and aggressive crowd behavior part of a 4,500-person force mobilized throughout California by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the report said.

But Wongs time in formation didnt last, as puzzled troops began to question the authenticity of the unfamiliar service member in the mismatching uniform.

The skeptical troops subsequently alerted officers from the Los Angeles Police Department, the report said, who took Wong into custody at approximately 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.

According to the report, police classified Wongs M-4 rifle as a ghost gun or, a custom-built weapon that contains no serial number. The veteran was also armed with a pistol, the report said.

For brandishing the rifle Wong was charged with the transportation of an assault weapon, LAPD officer Drake Madison told CBS.

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Madison added that Wong claimed to have come to the area only to provide security for a friends business.

While investigators are still looking into the incident, at this time it does not appear that Mr. Wong intended to harm anyone, Madison said.

The veteran is currently being held on $50,000 bond.

A search of Wongs recent activity, meanwhile, reveals a foray into numerous endeavors under his personal brand, Spartan117GW, under which Wong claims to currently manage social media for several companies and the fan club Jurassic Park Motorpool, according to his bio on the brand website.

Recently I also picked up World War 2 reennacting, cosplay, and background acting when I have free time. ... Lately I have been fortunate to provide military technical consulting in the film and TV world helping make projects more realistic and fun for military audiances (sic).

Twitter and Facebook accounts for Spartan117GW appear to have been disabled since Wongs arrest.

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Rifle-toting vet arrested after dressing up, trying to join National Guard crowd control formation - Military Times

Willingboro High School senior Tamia Welch talks about organizing a George Floyd march on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. Cherry Hill Courier-Post

Moorestown's Ronald McCoy, top, controls Highland's Emidio Mariani during the 145 lb. bout of the South Jersey Group 4 semifinal wrestling match held at Highland High School on Wednesday, February 12, 2020. McCoy defeated Mariani, 12-2.(Photo: Chris LaChall/Courier-Post)

When practice finally starts, theres one thing that every coach can and probably will say, in every sport:

No opponent that you face is going to test you like this summer has.

That was true when time missed because of the coronavirus pandemic was the only concern a young athlete had. It became even more true on May 25, and in the time since, in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Athletes are reaching out to coaches and to each other for guidance, and taking a hard look in some cases, a first-hard look in the world beyond the arenas they compete in.

A lot have reached out, Pemberton football coach Kareem Johnson said. I reached out to them, first, actually, and it was tough, trying to control my emotions and my thoughts, and trying to tread lightly. I wanted to let them know its OK if theyre feeling a certain way. Its OK to have whatever questions they have. Its OK that theyre thinking about this and troubled by it.

Thats how dialogue starts.

The truth is, the coaches and players whove worked and played locally feel theyve been fortunate, to compete in an area where there is so much diversity and race is virtually a non-issue. The question that raises, though, is whether that environment has made them nave to the bigger picture.

I really think it did, said Max Smyth, a former Palmyra High School quarterback now playing at Monmouth University. At Palmyra, youd see little things; a kid would say something that was out of line and other kids would get on him right away. Everybody was so close. Now in college, everyone is older and theyre all individuals. You dont jump on people in person.

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They dont have that community bond to start with. You might see something later on social media, but its rare that anybody takes it on himself to confront it.

Maybe by that point, those people arent viewed as saveable.

It really does start in every household, Smyth said. Kids arent born racist. Thats taught.

Fear is taught too, either directly or as a conditioned response.

We got pulled over when I was little, on the way home from church, Moorestown wrestler Ronald McCoy said. I remember being told, stay still, dont make any noise, dont say anything. It was just strange to me at the time, but looking back, I understand how terrified she was.

The lesson he learned was that presentation is important. How you carry yourself, how you dress, how you speak its all going to be judged by someone in a position of power, with no notice given.

Be aware. Be very aware. Be conscious, Burlington City coach Ray Robinson said. If you give a situation an opportunity to go left, it can go left in a heartbeat. You have to present yourself in a non-threatening manner.

Its always in the back of your mind.

Its the same, in every black persons life, McCoy said. The way you carry yourself is always going to matter.

Smyth, who is white, is aware of that too, and its maddening to him.

Its crazy that when I talk to teammates on the phone, I have to remind them; be careful. Be safe, he said. It sucks. You shouldnt have to think about it.

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Burlington Township coach Tom Maderia has created a Google classroom for his players, and recently he sent them a YouTube link, to The Huddle; a video made by Bill Curry, an NFL veteran and former college football coach. The gist of it is very simple, and it jibes with what Maderia has always taught.

It doesnt matter what color you are, what religion you are, or what your sexual preference is; when you get in that huddle, youre a band of brothers, Maderia said. I sent that out to them.

We dont have that issue. Where they have an issue is once they leave the locker room. On the field, everything is based on ability. When they leave white, black, Puerto Rican, Mexican, whatever they all have to fit into society.

But the larger society views them as white, black, Puerto Rican, Mexican, and doesnt have that experience of brotherhood to draw on.

Everett Wormley, who played for Maderia at Burlington Township and now plays for Greg Schiano at Rutgers University, learned that first hand.

I got pulled over for a tail light and ended up getting my car searched, Wormley said. Growing up in this area, people knew who I was. I became a familiar face because of football, but I still have to face that issue. With some people, race is all they see.

Fortunately, Wormley wasnt nave to it.

My dad prepared me, he said. He told me about it growing up. In Burlington Township, we had a diverse community and up until I was a teenager, I didnt even see race. But I was blessed to have parents who were able to expose me to the truth of it. When I was 13- or 14-years old, we had conversations about it. Im glad I had elders to educate me.

Wormley spoke at a demonstration in Burlington Township last week and spoke to everyone about the need for action.

Its not enough to say youre not racist, Wormley said. You need to be anti-racist. I think all the others around us are starting to realize the every day problems that were exposed to.

It can be numbing. Wormley said when he saw news of Floyds death trending on social media, his first thought was another guy got killed, and he continued without watching the video.

But it turns out hes blessed again.

I went about my day until Coach Schiano called us, Wormley said. We had a team meeting to address the issue. The coach put out a statement that he wrote himself. A lot of coaches put statements out that looked like they were written by the PR department, but he wanted to put something out that was genuine.

The University produced a video that included several players, discussing their feelings about Floyds killing. Schianos face is the last in the video and he adds its time for us to come together and chop for change invoking the keep chopping that wood motto that the recently-rehired coach made famous in his first tenure at Rutgers.

I said I appreciate you coach, Wormley said. I already respected him as a coach, but now I give him my utmost respect.

Johnson would like to join him at the vanguard, in the time to come, and he hopes others will join; to assist with the healing and continue the dialogue.

Its on us, he said. 30, 40, 50-years old. We look at the older generation, and theyve done their fighting. They fought, they voted, they did their marches. Now we need to hold up our end and do what were supposed to do. Be active. Run for the school board. Be a counselor. Teach, if youre certified. Try to position yourself to help other societal injustice from happening.

Its on us now.

Read more here:
George Floyd killing heavy on the minds of local coaches, athletes - Courier Post

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Watching Raj Kapoors 1951 classic Awara, I realised that how you think of that word depends entirely on your privilege. When I was in school in the 80s and 90s, awara was used to describe kids who hung out with members of the opposite sex. It was what teachers called kids who bunked class to go to the canteen or, if they felt more daring, exit school to go watch a movie at the theatre. Awaragardi was something to aspire to because all the cool kids were doing it.

It was never, to our naive, privileged minds, about money or social status.

But Raj Kapoors movie was made in the 1950s, when India was struggling to emerge from the shadows of British rule, when the wounds of Partition were still wide open, when independent India was starting to develop its complicated relationship with money, wealth and education. In this context, the word awara was not something indulgent parents and exasperated teachers said to errant students. It meant a vagabond, someone with no sense of home or, therefore, values, a tramp. It was used to tell you your place in the socioeconomic hierarchy and it was never an aspiration.

Watching this movie in the wake of the massive humanitarian crisis that has gripped India since the lockdown was imposed, one realises that Raj Kapoor was the original showman not only for the style and flair with which he made movies, but because that under that showmanship, he showed us what India really was.

Earlier, the words Gharbaar nahin, sansaar nahin, mujhse kisi ko pyaar nahin in the title song brought to mind the ironically cheerful Charlie Chaplin-esque persona that Raj Kapoor introduced in this movie, but watching it today, it feels almost as if he was foretelling what thousands of workers struggling to get home, many not making it, would feel, almost 70 years later.

In the week of Raj Kapoors death anniversary, it feels only right to revisit what is arguably his greatest movie, which feels all the more relevant today.

Also read: With Bobby, Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia set the bar for young love in Bollywood

Awara opens with Raj (played by Raj Kapoor) on trial for attempting to murder Judge Raghunath (Kapoors real-life father, Prithviraj Kapoor). The judge (played by Prithvirajs real-life father, Dewan Basheshwarnath Kapoor), realising that Raj has not hired a lawyer, is about to get one appointed when a lawyer named Rita (Nargis Dutt) enters the courtroom, stating that she will defend Raj. She is not only Rajs childhood friend and now lover, but has been in the care of Judge Raghunath ever since her father, the judges friend, died.

During the interrogation, Judge Raghunath repeatedly invokes one idea that those who are born to criminals will become criminals, while those who are born to shareef log will end up on the right side of the law and the tracks. This concept of nature versus nurture is a running theme of the film, because, as Rita digs deeper into the interrogation, we find out that years ago, the judge, then up for magistrate-ship, had convicted a criminals son, Jagga (K.N. Singh), for rape without any evidence, using this very logic.

Jagga escaped and kidnapped Raghunaths wife, Leela (Leela Chitnis), but upon finding out she was pregnant, let her go, because he realised that casting suspicions about the father of the child was his way of getting revenge. Raghunath, who had once bucked tradition to marry Leela, a widow, against his familys wishes, then found himself unable to shake the thought that the child wasnt his, threw Leela out of the house. That child was Raj.

On her own and living a hand-to-mouth existence, Leela manages to just about send Raj (played by a young Shashi Kapoor, the directors younger brother) to a good school even as he polishes shoes on the roadside to help make ends meet, but he gets thrown out. He falls into the company of none other than Jagga, who grooms him and mentors him into a life of crime. Years later, Raj, now an adept criminal, tries to steal a womans bag. That woman, it turns out, is the one friend he had in school, Rita, whom he has never forgotten.

Rita and Raj fall in love, but her guardian, the judge, who has no idea that Raj is his own son, disapproves of him for being a worthless awara. Raj, meanwhile, keeps trying to quit his life of crime, but finds that it is difficult, for when employers find out about his past, they dont give him a chance. This vicious circle of poverty and crime throws Raj into a spiral of despair and further crime, made worse by his insecurities about not being good enough for Rita.

Also read: Amar Prem tells the story of relationships that have no name but the power to break hearts

In fact, even though the film is about Raj, it is Rita who is, in many ways, its soul. Her girlhood photograph, which Raj has kept all these years, is his reminder and his advisor to be good, it is what, at a crucial moment, stops him from committing a gruesome crime. She was his one ray of hope in his childhood, and she becomes that again when he needs it. But she is far from a manic pixie dream girl, whose sole purpose in the film is to support the leading man. She is a talented lawyer and a strong woman who stands up even to her imposing guardian, Judge Raghunath, who has taken care of her all these years.

Even her romance with Raj isnt something flighty, although it has its moments of fun. Its deep and passionate from the word go, and its not feel-good. Raj takes his insecurities out on her and its what makes their romance uncomfortable to watch but also beautifully portrayed in all its bruised, traumatic, brooding glory. This is what real human relationships are messy, unpleasant, vital, painful. This, then, is the real message of the film that everyone, whether a wealthy judge in his mansion or a tramp on the street, just needs a bit of love.

Also read: BR Chopras Naya Daur is still relevant for an India fighting age-old labour problems

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Raj Kapoors Awara is all the more relevant in the context of Indias migrant crisis - ThePrint

Written by Vivek Deshpande | Published: June 4, 2020 7:55:34 pm Mehta indulges in the positive versus negative reporting debate while arguing in the Supreme Courts suo motu case in the matter.

VULTURES are natural scavengers. For some, however, they are symbolic of opportunistic predation, at least in a manner of speaking. So, are journalists covering the plight of migrant labourers in the times of a terrible human tragedy unfolding before their eyes akin to vultures? Should they as Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta would like them to restrict themselves to helping the migrants in trouble instead of shooting photos and videos, and narrating their plight in reports? The jury is still out on the matter, but Mehtas elucidation of his point using the example of the much-debated Pulitzer-winning news photograph by the late photojournalist Kevin Carter it depicts a vulture waiting in anticipation of a starving Sudanese childs death is factually misplaced, and hence deeply problematic.

Mehta indulges in the positive versus negative reporting debate while arguing in the Supreme Courts suo motu case in the matter. He also tells his legal rival, Kapil Sibal, to not bring politics into the matter. According to him, the government is doing a lot of good work too, which is not being appreciated. This argument has both neutral and subjective dimensions. When journalists were covering the alleged corruption scandals during the erstwhile Congress-led government, should they have balanced it out with positive stories, if any, that their inner calling probably failed to notice, deliberately or otherwise? How would the party, whose government Mehta now represents, have perceived such journalism?

An interesting media experience is worth mentioning in this context. Both the national and international media were focused on farmers suicides in Vidarbha during the previous decade. This attracted huge government focus on the region with several packages being declared and the whole administrative machinery put to work to ameliorate the farmers lot. The obvious angle of reporting after that was whether the suicides continued at the same rate, or if there was a drop in numbers. This papers investigation suggested that the numbers had indeed started coming down from 2007 from 1,449 suicides in 2006, the numbers dropped to 805 in 2013 in the regions six cotton-producing districts. However, this work was scoffed at by the parties in power today, which were in the opposition then. At least two of the prominent opposition leaders then, who hold key ministerial portfolios in state and Centre today, had openly rebuked this paper on public forums in very disparaging terms. The same leaders started preaching farmers to think positively and not commit suicide when they came to power in Maharashtra in 2014 and when the suicide numbers had started shooting up again.

While a falling or increasing suicide count is an important facet of the farmers suicide saga, it doesnt mean that the farmers were also fluctuating in and out of agrarian distress. It only underlined fluctuations in distress levels. That the farmers continued to live a life in distress was an undeniable fact.

A reporters job is to highlight the positive/s, if any, in the aftermath of measures initiated to tackle the problem, not before it. In the migrants case, Mehta wants us to see the arrangement of transport for migrants as a positive story. He invokes the symbolism of the vulture in Carters photo to vilify the journalists highlighting the misery of the migrants. Mehta should know that the real measures to mitigate migrants sufferings will have to be initiated after they reach their homes. Because whats happening now is just the trailer. Suffering will continue even after they complete their reverse migration. The government will need to undertake the salvaging act then. And, it will be a while after that for the impact of those mitigation measures to unfold. Therefore, Mehta can reserve his anguish against journalists for a later time, if and when they fail to report the positives then, if any.

For now, theres scope to say the current pain of the migrant labourers is largely the making of the government that Mehta is defending. Let alone any bare minimum acknowledgement of government failure, Mehtas labelling of the journalists and activists highlighting migrants pain as prophets of doom is like the pot calling the kettle black.

It is fine for Mehta to call for neutrality and positivity in reporting the migrant crisis now thats his job but to attach political motives to those raising the issue or reporting on it is going beyond the scope of his brief.

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Why the vulture analogy for media doesnt fly - The Indian Express

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to allow, at this stage, an intervention application filed by TMC Member of Parliament Mahua Moitra stating that it will be chaotic to allow a respected Member of Parliament like her to submit arguments on the issue. The Supreme Court was hearing the submissions on behalf of the Centre and states on the steps being taken by them to resolve the long-standing migrant crisis that has hit the country during the nation-wide lockdown. Severalintervention applications were filed before the Supreme Court after the court decided to take suo moto cognisance of the case, bringing the issue to light before the top court for the second time.

Read:180 Migrant Workers Return To Jharkhand From Andaman On Chartered Flight

Applications were filed on behalf of several migrant worker associations along with the NHRC and certain individuals including the TMC MP. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta making arguments on behalf of the Centre objected to the intervention applications stating that none of the interveners should be entertained at this stage to minimise the confusion during the hearing. The bench agreed with the Solicitors arguments, while also allowing the counsel for Moitra to put forth their stand. Advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for Moitra, told the Supreme Court that she had filed an application earlier before the Supreme Court as well, but at that time, her application was dismissed because the Supreme Court had left it up to the government to decide what needs to be done to solve the crisis.

Read:'Kerala Economy Struggling, Cannot Pay For Return Of Migrant Workers': State Govt Tells SC

Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul told Gupta ,Moitra is a respectable member of Parliament and if we allow this, it will become a chaotic situation. We have the assistance of the Union and the states for now.

Justice Kaul went on to say that they dont want this to become a jamboree right now by allowing everyone to argue. The application filed by Moitra, however, was not dismissed at this stage, with the Supreme Court reserving its order for June 9.

Read:Coronavirus Live Updates: SC Suggests '15 Days To Transport All Migrants'; Cases At 226770

Read:Bihar Police ADG Recalls Letter Warning Districts Of 'law & Order Issue' Due To Migrants

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Allowing TMC MP Mahua Moitras intervention into the migrant crisis will be chaotic: SC - Republic World - Republic World