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JUAN GONZLEZ: In Minnesota, protesters took to the streets Sunday for a third straight day, after a St. Anthony police officer was acquitted Friday in the killing of a black motorist he shot five times during a traffic stop last year. Officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted on charges of manslaughter for killing Philando Castile, an African American who worked as a school nutrition services supervisor for the Saint Paul Public Schools. The shooting made international headlines after Castiles girlfriend documented the aftermath of the shooting by broadcasting live on Facebook from the car moments after Castile was shot. In the video, Officer Yanez is seen pointing a gun at her and her 4-year-old daughter.

DIAMOND REYNOLDS: He was trying to get out his ID and his wallet out his pocket, and he let the officer know that he washe had a firearm, and he was reaching for his wallet. And the officer just shot him in his arm. Were waiting for a

JERONIMO YANEZ: Maam, just keep your hands on the wheel!

DIAMOND REYNOLDS: I will, sir. No worries. I will. He just shot his arm off. We got pulled over on Larpenter.

JERONIMO YANEZ: I told him not to reach for it! I told him to get his hand off it!

DIAMOND REYNOLDS: He hadyou told him to get his ID, sir, his drivers license. Oh, my god, please dont tell me hes dead. Please dont tell me my boyfriend just went like that.

JERONIMO YANEZ: Keep your hands where they are, please.

DIAMOND REYNOLDS: Yes, I will, sir. Ill keep my hands where they are. Please, dont tell me this, lord. Please, Jesus, dont tell me that hes gone. Please, dont tell me that hes gone. Please, officer, dont tell me that you just did this to him. You shot four bullets into him, sir. He was just getting his license and registration, sir.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Diamond Reynolds narrating the aftermath of the police shooting of her boyfriend, Philando Castile. Prosecutors opened the trial by playing a police dash cam video of Castiles killing, which shows Officer Yanez opening fire on Castile seven times as he sat in the car. A medical expert testified Castile was struck with five of the rounds, including two which pierced his heart. The jury of seven men, five women, 10 of whom were white, two African-American, deliberated for more than 25 hours over five days before acquitting Officer Yanez on all charges. Philando Castiles mother, Valerie Castile, spoke after the verdict.

VALERIE CASTILE: My son would never jeopardize anyone elses life by trying to pull a gun on an officer. And the gun was not fire-ready. These are some of the facts that came out in the trial. And I am so very, very, very, very, very, very, very disappointed in the system here in the state of Minnesota, because nowhere in the world do you die from being honest and telling the truth. The system continues to fail black people. And it will continue to fail you all. Like I said, because this happened with Philando, when they get done with us, theyre coming for you, for you, for you and all your interracial children. Yall are next.

JUAN GONZLEZ: About 2,000 demonstrators gathered outside Minnesotas state Capitol in St. Paul on Friday evening, and a series of speakers demanded justice for people of color in the judicial system and police accountability. Several protesters blocked a main interstate between St. Paul and Minneapolis Friday night, resulting in 18 arrests. Peaceful demonstrations continued throughout the weekend.

AMY GOODMAN: Protesters also gathered in New York Saturday. Democracy Now!s Sam Alcoff filed this report.

MAL MERO: Why do you bring harm to a world yall is blessed in? Why must we pay for your stressin? How many more arraignments without a confession? Why take away the ones we put our blood and our flesh in? How often do you miss misusing your weapon? How many wakes have our families wept in? How many heels have our black mother stepped in to stand over caskets their babies slept in? What if those bullets were intercepted? What if their children were the ones to catch it? Would you fight back or respect it?

HAWK NEWSOME: Im Hawk Newsome, president of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York. Philando Castile was driving in his car. An officer pulled him over and shot him in front of his wife and his daughter, OK? He informed the officer that he had a pistol and a permit to carry that pistol. However, the officer still shot him. The officer said, "He reached for his gun. I told him not to reach." His wife repliedhis wife said, "You told him to get his ID." And they killed that man and let him bleed out in front of his family. Luckily, his wife had the presence of mind to go on Facebook Live to record this injustice. So, now, you had outrage last summer, and now you had the trial. The trial was mishandled by the prosecutor. They would like to call this a mistake. But there is no mistake about it when, time after time again, you fail to prosecute cops that kill innocent black people. Theres no mistake about it.

KENNETH SHELTON JR.: So I want you to say it with me: Black Lives Matter.

PROTESTERS: Black Lives Matter!

KENNETH SHELTON JR.: Im Kenneth Shelton. Im a member of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York. The resistance is being coopted for black people. Right? Too many times, we have all these resistance groups about resisting Republicans, but not talking about resisting Democrats. Democrats have put on racist policies. Minnesota is a Democratic state. All these Democratic citiesChicago, even New Yorkdont value black and brown people. And thats when you get these injustices that take place. So its important for us, in a liberal area such as New York City, to make a stand, to say, "Hey, were going to come out here and march in solidarity with what happened in Minnesota, but then, also, were going to continue to fight and be a shining example for what we should do for black people and brown people here in the city.

HELEN HINES: My name is Helen Hines. Im running for City Council in the Bronx in District 17. When the young man was being taken right out, that can be any of us. I want you to know, we dont vote enough. We dont read another. We dont listen enough. And we are giving away our votes.

PROTESTERS: Back up! We dont need 'em, need em! All these racist ass cops, we don't need em, need em!

KENNETH SHELTON JR.: Were taking the streets. The police dont want us on the street. They want us on the sidewalk. But these are our streets, especially in Harlem. When police violence occurs each and every day, its important for us to take to the streets and show solidarity. Thats what they did in Minnesota. Thats what were going to do right here. Right now, were on 116th, about to be 115th Street. This is Harlem, Harlem, about to enter into the mainstream city. The scene is, this is justthe Juneteenth parade was right there. All these black people are looking and showing that were standing in solidarity. This is not just black people. Theres white people. Theres brown people. showing that on one of the most important days to descendants of slaves, which is Juneteenth, that were out here marching for Black Lives Matter.

POLICE OFFICER: You are ordered to leave the roadway and utilize the available sidewalk. If you remain in the roadway and refuse to utilize the sidewalk, you will be placed under arrest and charged with disorderly conduct.

MAL MERO: Show this world that they cannot dismiss us. America needs to see this mistrust. The system is broken, but yet theyre trying to fix us. When I say "black lives," yall say "matter." Black lives!

PROTESTERS: Matter!

MAL MERO: Black lives!

PROTESTERS: Matter!

MAL MERO: Black lives!

PROTESTERS: Matter!

MAL MERO: Black lives!

PROTESTERS: Matter!

AMY GOODMAN: Voices from the streets of New York on Saturday. There were protests around the country, after the acquittal of Officer Jeronimo Yanez for killing Philando Castile. Special thanks to Sam Alcoff and Jesse Rubin. When we come back, well go to Minneapolis to speak with Nekima Levy-Pounds, former president of the Minneapolis NAACP. This is Democracy Now! Stay with us.

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"Philando Can Be Any of Us": Black Lives Matter Protests Acquittal of Officer in Minnesota Killing - Democracy Now!

Nowadays,protest style is becoming super trendy.

Continuing Mens Fashion Week in Milan, Ports 1961 dedicated its S/S 2018 collection to the Black Lives Matter movement. In a strong message to the world, the fashion brands first look featured a black sweater with the iconic Black power fist screen printed in white on the front. The model also rocked black cropped slacks with #Resist written on one pant leg.

The collection was not only good, it was highlighting the trends of the cool African kids and New Yorks rebellious street scene of the 80s. If Barry,the film about Barack Obama on Netflix, could be associated with a collection, it would be this one.

From the collections official press release:

This collection is, in its own way, a message of solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement that

began in the street and on social media in 2012. The fight against violence and for justice for black

people resonates today in an even wider, bigger way.

Ports 1961 clothing ranges from $300 to $3,000 and is sold online and at high-end retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman.

Ports 1961 will send not only cropped trousers down the runway, but menswear will feature more prints.

Click ahead to see the collection of Black excellence in fashion.

Visit link:
Ports 1961 Dedicates Mens Collection To Black Lives Matter - Jet Magazine (blog)

In this Oct. 20, 2014 frame from dash-cam video provided by the Chicago Police Department, Laquan McDonald, right, walks down the street moments before being fatally shot by CPD officer Jason Van Dyke sixteen times in Chicago.(Photo: AP)

CHICAGO Black Lives Matter activistsand other civil rights organizations filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday in an attemptto force court-monitoring of the embattled Chicago Police Department's reform efforts.

The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois comes after Mayor Rahm Emanuels administration said earlier this month that it had floated a proposal to the Justice Department to install an independent monitor to oversee reform efforts in the police department. The Emanuel proposal would not require the police department to enter what is known as a consent decree, which requires court monitoring. That proposal is under review by Justice Departmentofficials.

The plaintiffs include the groupsBlack LivesMatter Chicago, Blocks Together,Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Justice for Families, Network 49, Women's All Points Bulletin and 411 Movement for Pierre Loury as well as six people who say they have faced excessive forceby Chicago cops.

The City of Chicago has proven time and time again that it is incapable of ending its own regime of terror, brutality and discriminatory policing, the plaintiffs argue in the lawsuit. It is clear that federal court intervention is essential to end the historical and ongoing pattern and practice of excessive force by police officers in Chicago.

The Justice Department completed a 13-month investigation in January of the police department days before President Trump was inaugurated. The investigation, which was spurred by widespread protests in the city following the court-ordered release of video that showed a white police officer fatally shooting a black teen as he ran from cops, found that the nations second-largest police department was beset by racial bias, excessive use of force and a cover-up culture within the ranks.

The Justice Department forced more than a dozen troubled police departmentssuch as the ones in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimoreinto consent decrees during the Obama administration. But Trumps attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has said that he worries the decrees undermine police and that he will avoid using them.

Emanuel, who is under intense pressure to takesteps to reform the department, had expressed support for entering a consent decree during the Obama administration. But earlier this month, his administration indicated that an independent monitor might be the best step to take, considering Sessions aversion to taking the step.

City officials planto hold a news conference later Wednesday to discuss the lawsuit.

Even before the release in November 2015 of police video of the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, Chicago Police faced mistrustin large swaths of Chicagos black and Latino communities. (The officer who fired the shots, Jason Van Dyke, was charged with first-degree murder on the same day as the video's release and is awaiting trial.)

The city council offered a formal apology and set aside millions of dollars for reparations for the more than 100 people who allegethat police officers under former police commander Jon Burge's committed horrific abuses against them. The suspects were subjected to mock executions and electric shock and beaten with telephone books as their interrogators flung racial epithets at them. A Chicago Police Department review board ruled in 1993 that Burge's officers had used torture, and he was fired.

The police department and American Civil Liberties Union in August 2015 entered an agreement on monitoring how officersgoabout conducting street stops of citizens in the nations third-largest city. The agreement came after ACLU published a study that showed black Chicagoans were subjected to 72% of stop-and-frisk searcheseven though theymake up only about a third of the city's population.

Chicago has paid more than $600 million in settlements and legal fees related to accusations of police misconduct since 2004. In the last two years, at least 99 cases were filed by people alleging excessive use of force by Chicago Police, the plaintiffs contend.

Prior tothe Justice Department issuingits scathing report about policing in Chicago at the end of the Obama administration, the city and police announcedseveral reforms, including implementing a field training officer program for new cops, revising the departments use of force policy and began the process of issuing police body cameras.

But the plaintiffs contend that Chicagos long and troubled history underscores why court-monitored oversight of changesis necessary.

Absent federal court supervision, nothing will improve. Internal revisions to the (Chicago Police Department)accountability and operational structures have failed to ameliorate conditions on the ground for those subjected on a daily basis to police abuse, the plaintiffs wrote in the lawsuit. (Chicago Police Department) policy changes, implemented over the years are superficial changes in name only.

Follow USA TODAY Chicago correspondentAamer Madhani on Twitter:@AamerISmad

Read more:

49 shot in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend and that's a sign of progress

Chicago police use excessive force, scathing Justice Department report finds

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2tmKMbg

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Black Lives Matter, activists sue for court oversight of ...

Black Lives Matter and other civil rights groups filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday against the city of Chicago to push for court oversight in reforming the nations second-largest police force, reports The Associated Press. The suit comes after the Department of Justice in January released a blistering report documenting systemic racism and a culture where officers cover up for each other.

Absent federal court supervision, nothing will improve, the lawsuit says, according to The AP. It is clear that federal court intervention is essential to end the historical and on-going pattern and practice of excessive force by police officers in Chicago.

The roughly 130-page lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, attempts to amend a draft agreement between the city of Chicago and Department of Justice to enact reforms without federal court supervision. Groups involved in the suit are seeking to end a historicand ongoing pattern of violence and excessive force by city officers, according to the report.

About 15 lawyers from Chicago and New York are representing six African-American plaintiffs, who said they were subject to abuses at the hands of Chicago cops, in the suit, reports theChicago Tribune.

The suit, which documents brutality cases including the 1969 killing of Black Panther Fred Hampton, argues that racial discrimination influences police interaction with the public and officers regularly beat as well as shoot Blacks with little risk of punishment. One male plaintiff claimed that he was thrown to the ground and beaten by police, writes the Tribune.

Tensions between Chicago cops and residents boiled over in 2015 when police were forced to release dashcam video of the the 2014 shooting death of 17-year-oldLaquan McDonald.The video showedJason Van Dykeshooting the teen 16 times, sparking protests and calls for police reform. The shooting also prompted a Justice Department investigation of the 12,000-officer force in 2015, notes NBC.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel,whosaid a new police oversight agency was created and the police department was implementing new practices to hold cops accountable such as body cameras, agreed to a consent decree when the damning Justice Department report was released in January. The draft deal between the city and DOJ was negotiated in Washington in June, but does not include an agreement for any court-appointed monitor to govern the reform process, writes NBC.

Complicating matters further is an uncertainty about whether the Department of Justice under the Donald Trump administration is committed to sweeping reforms, as opposed to theBarack Obamaadministration which advocated for court-mandated reforms. Attorney General Jeff Sessionshas publicly said that he is not a fan of consent decrees as agreements to spur reforms.

Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor and the lead attorney in the BLM-led lawsuit, says that the plaintiffs hope Emanuel will work with the civil rights groups to create a comprehensive plan for reform that the court will oversee, according to the News.

Do you think the court will grant oversight of police reforms? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

SOURCE: Associated Press,NBC News, Chicago Tribune,

SEE ALSO:

Chicago Cops In Laquan McDonald Case To Return To Work

Chicago Police Announce New Use Of Deadly Force Policy

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Black Lives Matter Sues Chicago For Court-Monitored Police ...

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Black Lives Matter is a movement, not an organization that can be sued by a Louisiana police officer who was injured at a protest after a deadly police shooting, a prominent activist's attorney argued Wednesday.

DeRay Mckesson's lawyer, William Gibbens, urged U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson to dismiss a Baton Rouge police officer's lawsuit against Black Lives Matter and the Baltimore-based activist. The judge said he would rule "within the coming days" after hearing from attorneys.

Mckesson was one of nearly 200 protesters arrested after the July 2016 shooting death of Alton Sterling, a black man shot and killed by a white officer during a struggle outside a Baton Rouge convenience store.

Gibbens said Black Lives Matter doesn't have a governing body, dues-paying members or bylaws. At best, the lawyer argued, it's a "community of interest."

"This is a movement, and there isn't a person who is responsible for it, or the leader or the founder of it," he told the judge.

The unidentified officer claims a piece of concrete or "rock like substance" struck him in the face during a July 9 protest over Sterling's death. The officer's lawsuit says he lost teeth and received injuries to his jaw and brain.

Donna Grodner, an attorney for the officer, argued Black Lives Matter is an "unincorporated association" that can be held liable for her client's injuries.

"It's organized. They have meetings. They solicit money. They have national chapters," Grodner said. "This shows a level of national organization."

The suit doesn't accuse Mckesson of throwing anything, but it claims he "incited the violence" on behalf of Black Lives Matter. The suit also claims Mckesson "was in charge of the protests" and he was seen and heard giving orders.

The officer's attorneys sued Mckesson individually but also served him and three other activists with the suit as alleged "agents" of Black Lives Matter. Gibbens expressed concern about the implications for Mckesson if the court agrees to enter a "default judgment" against Black Lives Matter in the officer's favor.

"This really could be leading us down a rabbit hole," Gibbens added.

Mckesson, who declined to be interviewed Wednesday, has described himself as a leader of the Black Lives Matter movement.

"No organization started the movement," he said during an interview last year.

The officer suing Mckesson is identified only as "Officer John Doe" in the suit, saying the anonymity is "for his protection." A court filing last year cited the July 2016 sniper attack that killed five Dallas police officers and a shooting 10 days later that killed three law-enforcement officers in Baton Rouge as reasons for concealing the officer's identity.

Mckesson was arrested near Baton Rouge police headquarters on a charge of obstructing a highway. East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore said his office wouldn't prosecute roughly 100 protesters who were arrested on that same charge, including Mckesson.

Mckesson and other protesters sued the city of Baton Rouge and local law enforcement officials over their arrests, accusing police of using excessive force and violating their constitutional rights. Last month, a federal judge preliminarily approved a proposed settlement of the class action. Mckesson is one of nearly 80 arrested protesters who are eligible for cash payments ranging from $500 to $1,000 if the settlement gets the court's final approval.

Mckesson and Black Lives Matter also were named as defendants in a federal lawsuit that Larry Klayman founder of the conservative group Freedom Watch filed last year in Texas after the sniper attack on Dallas police officers. Klayman also sued former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other political figures, accusing the defendants of inciting a "race war" against police officers.

Mckesson's lawyers argued Klayman should have known his claims were frivolous. A judge's ruling on June 2 said the plaintiffs didn't provide the court with any support for their "proposition" that Black Lives Matter is an entity capable of being sued. All of Klayman's claims against Mckesson and Black Lives Matter have been dismissed or withdrawn.

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Can Black Lives Matter be sued? Federal judge to decide