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Mass Demonstrations and Marches Erupt Nationwide to Protest Police Shooting of Jacob Blake

Jake Johnson

August 25, 2020: From Washington, D.C. to Denver to New York City to Minneapolis—where George Floyd was killed at the hands of police just three months ago—massive demonstrations and marches erupted Monday demanding justice for Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old father of six who was shot multiple times in the back at point-blank range by a Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer as three of his children watched from the back seat of his car.

With Blake reportedly in stable condition at a nearby hospital, protests also kicked off for the second consecutive day in Kenosha as hundreds rallied outside the county courthouse while police officers surrounded the building. The Kenosha demonstrations continued late into the night Monday, deterred neither by the 8 pm curfew imposed by local authorities nor the tear gas and projectiles fired by city police.

As the Washington Post reported, “Monday evening’s demonstration started around 6:30 pm with a few hundred people gathered outside the Kenosha County Courthouse. The scene was peaceful, with the crowd chanting and holding signs. But as the citywide curfew neared, sheriff’s deputies appeared in riot gear.”

“At 8 pm, two military vehicles rolled to the square as police told the crowd to disperse,” the Post noted. “When no one budged, police unleashed tear gas, and protesters hurled water bottles and set off firecrackers. Some people spray painted government buildings and set fire to dump trucks used to curb traffic.”

In an interview with local reporters late Monday, Justin Blake, Jacob’s uncle, said his family is “encouraging people to protest peacefully, not to be destructive,” as some smashed the windows of businesses across the small Wisconsin city.

“We want justice,” Justin said, “and we want proper justice.”

Cellphone footage showing a Kenosha police officer firing seven shots into Jacob Blake’s back as he attempted to get in his vehicle Sunday evening drew nationwide condemnation from lawmakers and civil rights advocates, who decried the shooting as further evidence of the desperate need for systemic, nationwide policing reforms.

“The video that came out of Kenosha is absolutely horrific,” one Madison demonstrator told the Wisconsin State Journal. “I don’t understand how people can watch it and not be here.”

Allyn Brooks-LaSure, executive vice president for communications at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement Monday that “we are outraged at yet another act of police violence and brutality with the shooting of an unarmed Black man.”

“This tragic shooting underscores the immediate need for a new vision of justice that respects human life, ensures accountability, and redefines public safety—to shift resources away from criminalization and policing, and toward investments in social supports and community-driven solutions,” Brooks-LaSure continued. “We join the nation in keeping Blake and his family in our hearts and hope for his recovery.”

(Article courtesy: Common Dreams, a non-profit US newsportal.)

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Tens of Thousands Join ‘Get Your Knee Off Our Necks’ March in Washington DC

28-29 August 2020: Thousands of protestors seeking criminal justice reform gathered at the National Mall in Washington D.C., the capital city of the U.S., on Friday under the rallying cry “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks,” a reference to the manner in which George Floyd was killed while in police custody in May and reminiscent of the 1963 March on Washington.

Capping a week of protests and outrage over the police shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin, the march also marked the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr gave his “I have a dream” speechurging racial equality.

Civil rights advocates highlighted the scourge of police and vigilante violence against Black Americans.

The people gathered near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic “I Have A Dream” address, a vision of racial equality that remains elusive for millions of Americans. Many wore Black Lives Matter T-shirts, and heard speakers demand racial equality and an end to police brutality in the US.

“Today is a chance for people around the nation to gather together to confront racial injustices in our police precincts and courthouses,” said National Action Network (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 August 28 marchers gathered on the heels of yet another shooting by a white police officer of a Black man — this time, 29-year-old Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last Sunday — sparking days of protests and violence that left two dead.

“I want to give space for Black people in the crowd to say they are not okay,” said Jumaane Williams, New York City’s public advocate, who addressed the march attendees shortly after the program began.

“We are like the nameless grandmothers who got in the streets and said ‘We will make you live up to what America says she is,’” Williams said. “We are here. We’re not going anywhere.”

The march shaped up to be the largest political gathering in Washington since the coronavirus pandemic began. Many attendees showed up wearing T-shirts bearing the image and words of the late Rep. John Lewis who, until his death last month, was the last living speaker at the original March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which went on to become one of the most famous political rallies in U.S. history, and one of the largest gatherings at the U.S. capital with over 200,000 people advocating for social change.

The thousands of participants that streamed in for the march late Friday morning stood in lines that stretched for several blocks, as organizers insisted on taking temperatures as part of coronavirus protocols. Organizers reminded attendees to practice social distancing and wear masks throughout the program.

Later in the day, Martin Luther King III, a son of the late civil rights icon and the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose civil rights organization, the National Action Network, planned Friday’s event, delivered keynote addresses that show the urgency for federal policing reforms, decry racial violence, and demand voting rights protections ahead of the November general election.

“We get less healthcare, like we don’t matter,” said Rev Al Sharpton.

“We go to jail longer for the same crime like we don’t matter. We get poverty, unemployment, double the others, like we don’t matter.

“We’re treated with disrespect by policemen that we pay their salaries like we don’t matter. So we figured we’d let you know, whether we tall or short, fat or skinny, light skinned or dark skinned, black lives matter.

“And we won’t stop until it matters to everybody.”

King’s son, Martin Luther King III, told the crowd they must “defend the freedoms that earlier generations worked so hard to win”.

To underscore the urgency, Sharpton assembled the families of an ever-expanding roll call of victims: Blake, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, and Eric Garner, among others.

Arbery and Martin both were killed by white men who pursued them with guns.

Following the commemorative rally, participants marched to the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial in West Potomac Park, next to the National Mall, and then dispersed.

Turnout in Washington was lighter than initially intended due to city-imposed coronavirus pandemic restrictions that limit out-of-state visitors to the nation’s capital. To that end, the National Action Network organized a handful of satellite march events in South Carolina, Florida and Nevada, among others.

The NAACP is hosting a “virtual march” throughout the day.

Speakers will include the New Jersey senator Cory Booker, congresswoman Brenda Lawrence, from Michigan, and Stacey Abrams.

(Extracted by us from a report by Joan E. Greve and Adam Gabbatt in The Guardian, a report by Julia Conley in Common Dreams; and another by Countercurrents Collective.)

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Uprisings Against Evictions Planned for September 1 in Cities Across US

Kenny Stancil

August 31, 2020: Organizers and community members in at least 15 cities across the United States are set to mobilize Tuesday to “storm the streets in front of the homes and offices of Republican leaders, occupy eviction courts, and hold teach-ins on tenant protections for a nationwide day of uprisings to protest the Senate’s failures to provide relief during the biggest eviction crisis the U.S. has ever faced.”

The website of the #ReliefIsDue campaign, spearheaded by the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), notes that “our rent and mortgages are due, our bills are due, homelessness is skyrocketing, small businesses are going bankrupt, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican senators continue to sit at home and do nothing.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has upended the national economy, with 57.3 million workers filing for unemployment over the past five months and millions of families struggling to meet basic needs.

On its campaign website, the CPD summarizes the reasons for Tuesday’s planned day of action:

McConnell, backed by the Republican-controlled Senate, has failed to pass the House’s HEROES Act or an alternative that would provide the support we need to stay afloat during this pandemic.

Republicans have refused to extend the $600 Covid-relief unemployment insurance, and some unemployed workers remain ineligible to receive any cash assistance. Without rent cancellation or support, millions of people across the country are facing eviction and foreclosure.

People are unable to find testing sites, and are avoiding treatment because they can’t afford it. Hospitalized Covid patients worry about their medical bills instead of their recovery.

Republicans are letting small businesses go bankrupt while big companies receive PPP loans. Hundreds of thousands of small businesses shuttered by Covid-19 are unable to keep employees on payroll and are at risk of closing for good without direct subsidies.

With rent due on the first of the month and temporary protections expiring for many tenants, an eviction crisis looks imminent.

According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, as many as 40 million people could be displaced from their homes in the next several months. This scenario is precisely what organizers are attempting to prevent.

“While our families are struggling to make ends meet, Republican leaders have turned their backs on us,” Ashley Broshious from Charleston, South Carolina, said in a CPD statement. “We are coming together to fight against any evictions happening in our communities and demand that all rent be canceled until this crisis is over. It’s time for us to hold Republicans accountable for all the suffering our communities have gone through because of their inaction. Relief is due and the Senate must act now.”

Organizers in at least 15 states have coordinated mass demonstrations targeting a variety of actors who participate in the eviction process, including banks, corporate landlords, marshals, sheriffs, and the courts.

Examples of specific protests include rallies and car caravans outside of housing courts; a march to McConnell’s house in Washington D.C.; teach-ins on tenant protections and eviction defenses; and in Little Rock, Arkansas, tenants will serve eviction notices to U.S. Senators.

Throughout the nation, demonstrators will “call on eviction and housing courts across the country to remain closed and for evictions, rent, and mortgages to be cancelled for the duration of the crisis and a recovery period.”

In addition, activists are calling on the Senate to:

• • Cancel rent, cancel mortgages and extend the eviction moratorium;
  • Extend the $600 unemployment insurance;
  • Provide cash assistance for all;
  • Provide free testing and healthcare for all;
  • Provide grants to small businesses to keep workers on payroll and small businesses alive; and
  • Provide students all the support they need to learn from home until it’s safe for schools to reopen.

Sept. 1 will mark the fifth straight month of protests against evictions. While thousands of people have taken part in protests, CPD says that “anger and frustration are reaching a breaking point as the Trump administration and Republican-controlled Senate have failed to extend housing relief.”

(Article courtesy: Common Dreams)