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The Vancouver Pride Parade is still months away, but there's already controversy brewing over the involvement of the city's police force.

For the second year in a row, local Black Lives Matter activists are petitioning the Vancouver Police Department to voluntarily withdraw from the parade as a symbolic gesture of support.

That would bring them in line with police in Toronto and Halifax, which have already announced they will step aside this year over the concerns of some in the community.

It doesn't appear Vancouver police will be following suit, however; asked about the petition Friday, Staff Sgt. Randy Fincham told CTV News members still intend to take part in this year's parade.

"The VPD is looking forward to working with our community partners with Black Lives Matter and the Vancouver Pride Society, and unless requested otherwise, have our volunteers and civilian and sworn staff walk with pride," Fincham said in an email.

Black Lives Matter'spetition, which has been signed about 400 times, does not seek to exclude LGBT+ police officers from the parade altogether.

It does ask that they take part in Pride without representing the force as a whole meaning no uniforms, and no police float.

"The policing institution is an instrument of state violence and oppression. Dressing up in rainbows and feather boas does not change that fact," the petition reads.

"If they really support queer and trans people of colour they need to do a lot more work to earn their spot. There are so many other ways they can show meaningful initiative to work to protect the most marginalized groups."

Black Lives Matter listed a number of examples of what it sees as institutional issues in Canada's policing community, including the widely reported inaction toward cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women.

It also highlighted a 2015 Human Rights Tribunal decision against the VPD that found "systemic discrimination" in the way members dealt with transgender people.

"Across the country the police have a poor track record and current practices for dealing with Black people, Indigenous people, people of colour and queer and trans individuals," Black Lives Matter said in its petition.

"The police can of course be present to do their jobs and show support but being in the parade is not appropriate."

Vancouver police have said they strive to maintain a good relationship with Black Lives Matter members, and the group has called the departments approach "civil."

Last year, the VPD participated in the parade but agreed to not to bring its armoured rescue vehicle.

Read more:
VPD plans to participate in Pride, despite Black Lives Matter petition - CTV News

The Black Lives Matter movementremains controversial, asracism and anti-police violence have plagued it during the past few years. It was heartening to see someone on the left, writing in The Huffington Post, call for the resignation of an openly racist BLM activist on Thursday. This is exactly the kind of response which might helpseparate the criminal justice reform activism of BLM from the ugliness which gives the movement a bad name.

"Now, normally my white skin would admittedly preclude me from even suggesting that a black activist should hang up the megaphone, but [Toronto BLM co-founder Yusra] Khogali has made a habit of directing violent, hateful language towards people with white skin, so much so that I feel comfortable calling her out," wrote James Di Fore, a Canadian writer and producerknown forWe Run Sh*t (2012).

Di Fore is right on target here. Yusra Khogali, a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Toronto, Canada, has gone so far as to suggest that white people are subhuman. Here's an excerpt from her musings in 2016:

infact, white skin is sub-humxn. [sic]

all phenotypes exist within the black family

and white ppl are a genetic defect of blackness

white ppl have a higher concentration of enzyme inhibitors that suppress melanin production.

they are genetically deficient because;

melanin is present at the inception of life ...

melanin is directly linked to the strength of neuro systems affecting capacities like intelligence, memory and creativity

melanin enables black skin to capture light and hold it in its memory mode which reveals that blackness converts light into knowledge. ...

THEREFORE

white ppl are recessive genetic defects, this is factual.

Wow. And some people say "reverse racism" is impossible.

But it gets worse. In April of last year, Khogali tweeted, "Plz Allah give me strength to not cuss/kill these men and white folks out here today. Plz Plz Plz."

Now, Di Fore actually criticized the media for "focusing on that tweet instead of the issues black communities are facing." He argued that "this was and is a legit criticism of the media. Black people are treated unjustly by the criminal justice system at all levels, and the press is almost, as bad, [sic] and that's why I support the underlying credo of BLM."

Nevertheless, Di Fore added, "that can't absolve Khogali from being held accountable for constantly inserting hate speech into the ether of Toronto activism."

Finally, Di Fore noted Khogali's recent comments attacking Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a "white supremacist terrorist." Indeed, Khogali slandered Quebec City as "a white supremacist settler colony," and claimed that Trudeau's statement that he would welcome into Canada anyone excluded from the U.S. by President Donald Trump's immigration action was a lie.

Read the original post:
Toronto Black Lives Matter Co-Founder So Racist, Even HuffPo Turns on Her - PJ Media

Cameras from Washington, D.C.s ABC affiliate, WJLA-TV, recently capturedangry protesters blocking Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from entering a DC public school.

Protesters created a barricade that blocked DeVos vehicle from entering the premises, holding up signs that read Black Lives Matter and Same on Mike Pence. The crowd chanted Stop DeVos and build black futures as they surrounded the vehicle.

Later, as DeVos was being escorted away, the crowd followed her and continuously shouted shame! as she was escorted away from Jefferson Middle School. One man yelled go back! andaccused her of buying her way into her position.

Keep giving money to Senate and buying your way into the position, one of the angry protesters said. You should be so proud of yourself!

She does not represent anything that they stand for, another protester shouted, presumably about the school she was attempting to visit.

As the car she was escorted into pulled away, one of the protesters attempted to block the car while holding up a Black Lives Matter sign.

The idea that DeVos, a billionaire philanthropist who has donated heavily to Republicans, bought her way into her position as Education Department secretary and isnt qualified for the jobispopular among her left-wing opponentsand has beencirculated in such liberaloutlets as the Huffington Post and Vox. The Rolling Stonealleges that DeVos bought herself a nice little Cabinet position and summarizes just how much money she and her family have given up to the Republican Party.

It cost her $115,000 in personal donations to sitting Republican senators; $950,000 more has flowed in from the DeVos family over the last three and a half decades. And another $8.3 million from the DeVoses has gone to Republican super PACs in the last two election cycles alone. Not cheap! But it got the job done.

Herappointment has been fraught with oppositiondue in large part to her avid support of charter and private schools and opposition federal control over state education systemsand was capped off with Vice President Mike Pences tie-breaking votein the SenateTuesday to confirm her. Aside from a change.org petition that reached over 400,000 signatures that requested she not be confirmed, many have stated they will now be homeschooling their children afterward, interestingly something that DeVos has long supported.

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Video: Black Lives Matter protesters physically block Betsy DeVos from entering a DC school - TheBlaze.com

Western New Mexico University students celebrated Black History Month with a Black Lives Matter talent show at the Fine Arts Center Theatre on Tuesday night. The student-initiated, student-organized event showcased 10 judged performers, as well as professional artists from Albuquerque, to acknowledge widespread violence against black Americans.

Hakim Bellamy, former Albuquerque poet laureate, television personality and friend to WNMU, opened the night with a spoken word performance with fellow Albuquerque poet Colin Diles. For the rest of the evening, the pair acted as emcees for the showcase, introducing the parade of WNMU student acts. Those ranged from emotional renditions of hit songs to recitations of original poems, performed before an audience of more than 150.

I was so happy with the turnout and the reception, said WNMU graduate student and organizer Lauren Daizey. We got our point across with that event and brought the community together, which is the most important. We saw more students at this event than at most that happen on campus.

The point Daizey referred to was that crimes against African Americans are still too prevalent and we have to stop them. Organizers illustrated that point and advertised Tuesdays event with crime scenes spread across campus, complete with the white outlines of bodies on the ground.

They were making people aware that were not talking about history. Were talking about the present, said Emma Bailey, co-founder of the WNMU Center for Gender Equity, which sponsored the event.

They wanted to celebrate Black Lives on campus, said Lydia Huerta, another Center for Gender Equity founder. They wanted to bring a perspective that needs to be heard.

While turnout and reception from the audience encouraged organizers, the event did suffer some disappointment early in the day. Late Monday night, organizers hung a #BlackLivesMatter banner high above the front steps of the Fine Arts Center Theatre. By 11:30 a.m., it had been removed and taken away. Bailey and Huerta contacted the campuss head of custodial services to find out if it was the university itself that removed the banner, which students made for an event in 2016 and previously fluttered outside the Center for Gender Equity. Bailey said that the head custodian said he knew nothing about it.

Organizers still do not know who removed the banner.

Benjamin Fisher may be reached at ben@scdailypress.com.

Continued here:
Black Lives Matter event draws crowd - Silver City Daily Press and Independent

A judge recently ruled that footage of Black Lives Matter protests in New York City must be released.

AManhattan Supreme Court Justice ruled this week that the New York Police Department must disclose their surveillance of Black Lives Matter protests, according toThe New York Daily News.

The NYPD must cough up the footage of Black Lives Matter protesters at Grand Central in 2014 and 2015. Department officials werereportedlydetermined not toreleasethe information withthe argument that protesters might be connected to the IslamicState.

Supreme Court Justice Manuel Mendez dismissedNYPD assistant intelligence chief John Donahues terrorism claims on Monday. However, his ruling didnt become available to the public untilWednesday.

His speculative and conclusive claims of potential related ongoing investigations of incidents against police officers, both in New York and outside of the state and generalized references to use of materials by the ISIS or ISIL terrorists, fail to provide a casualconnection to the protesters and are insufficient to state a generic risk, Mendezwrote.

Following the police killings of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, protesterJames Logue introduced the case by challenging the NYPDs denial of a Freedom of Information Law request for information on the rallies.

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Logue said that during the protests, he observed both uniformed and plainclothes police officers regularly and openly recording events as they were taking place.

In addition, hesaid,"The surveillance violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution."

Read the rest here:
Judge Orders NYPD To Disclose Surveillance Of Black Lives Matter Protests - Essence.com