[WSMDiscuss] The US is aflame, the people of the US are afire… Minneapolis city council pledges to dismantle police department in wake of George Floyd's killing – live (The Guardian)

[Jai Sen]

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Viruses in movement…, Resistance in movement…, Workers in movement…, The US in movement…

[The US is aflame, the people of the US are afire…  And even as I sent off my last post, on local news in the struggle over racism in the Minneapolis police force, in came news of a dramatic development today on precisely this issue, literally just now.  This is huge news, for the movement.  But check out the link for news of developments in these regards, across the US today :

Minneapolis city council pledges to dismantle police department in wake of George Floyd's killing – live

The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/jun/07/george-floyd-protests-anti-racism-demonstrations-donald-trump-black-lives-matter-live-updates?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/jun/07/george-floyd-protests-anti-racism-demonstrations-donald-trump-black-lives-matter-live-updates?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other>    

A veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis city council has announced its intent to dismantle the city’s police department and invest in community-led public safety, a move that would mark the first concrete victory in the mounting nationwide movement to defund law enforcement agencies in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/george-floyd>.

Nine of the council’s 12 members announced their pledge to create a new system of public safety before hundreds of demonstrators at a rally at Powderhorn Park in south Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon.

“This council is going to dismantle this police department,” councilman Jeremiah Ellison said.

Added city council president Lisa Bender: “We’re here because we hear you. We are here today because George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis police. We are here because here in Minneapolis and in cities across the United States it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety is not keeping our communities safe.

“Our efforts at incremental reform have failed. Period.”

On Friday, the council approved an agreement to ban the use of police chokeholds and neck restraints in response to the killing of Floyd with the state’s department of human rights, which also requires officers to intervene anytime they seen an unauthorized use of force.

When pressed by CNN for details on what a city with a defunded police department might look like, Bender told the network that funding would be shifted to other needs.

“The idea of having no police department is certainly not in the short term,” Bender said.


Other news :

The New York Times has announced <https://www.nytco.com/press/james-bennet-resigns-as-editorial-page-editor-of-the-new-york-times-katie-kingsbury-named-acting-editorial-page-editor/> editorial page editor James Bennet has resigned amid outrage over an op-ed by a Republican senator who called for using federal troops to quell protests outrage.



The Rev Jesse Jackson spoke at a worship service on Sunday at St Stephen Church in Louisville, the Kentucky city where Breonna Taylor was shot at least eight times in her home after a brief confrontation with police who were there to serve a warrant in mid-March.

”When you kill, you should be arrested and charged,” Jackson said. ”There’s a George Floyd <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/george-floyd> in every town. ... There’s a Breonna in this town, Laquan McDonald in Chicago, Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia, the world is revolting for justice.”

On Saturday, the 78-year-old activist called for Congress to pass an anti-lynching law and eliminate protections for police officers from lawsuits, a subject he spoke about during a conversation with Guardian US reporter David Smith last week.


A crowd of about 1,600 demonstrators have gathered outside Trump International Hotel and Tower at Columbus Circle in midtown Manhattan, chanting “Throw him out!” and “No justice, no peace!”

The 11th days of protests in New York City have unfolded peacefully on a warm Sunday afternoon following the mayor’s rescinding of a citywide 8pm curfew <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/jun/07/george-floyd-protests-anti-racism-demonstrations-donald-trump-black-lives-matter-live-updates?page=with:block-5edce0af8f0883ec2fc1c558#block-5edce0af8f0883ec2fc1c558> that had drawn extensive criticism for intensifying tensions between protesters and police from the New York Civil Liberties Union, Legal Aid Society, Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center and the Center for Constitutional Rights.


____________________________

Jai Sen

Independent researcher, editor; Senior Fellow at the School of International Development and Globalisation Studies at the University of Ottawa

jai.sen at cacim.net <mailto:jai.sen at cacim.net>
Now based in New Delhi, India (+91-98189 11325) and in Ottawa, Canada, on unceded and unsurrendered Anishinaabe territory (+1-613-282 2900) 

CURRENT / RECENT publications :

Jai Sen, ed, 2018a – The Movements of Movements, Part 2 : Rethinking Our Dance. Ebook and hard copy available at PM Press <http://www.pmpress.org/>
Jai Sen, ed, 2018b – The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us Move ? (Indian edition). New Delhi : AuthorsUpfront, in collaboration with OpenWord and PM Press.  Hard copy available at MOM1AmazonIN <https://www.amazon.in/dp/9387280101/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1522884070&sr=8-2&keywords=movements+of+movements+jai+sen>, MOM1Flipkart <https://www.flipkart.com/the-movements-of-movements/p/itmf3zg7h79ecpgj?pid=9789387280106&lid=LSTBOK9789387280106NBA1CH&marketplace=FLIPKART&srno=s_1_1&otracker=search&fm=SEARCH&iid=ff35b702-e6a8-4423-b014-16c84f6f0092.9789387280106.SEARCH&ppt=Search%20Page>, and MOM1AUpFront <http://www.authorsupfront.com/movements.htm>
Jai Sen, ed, 2017 – The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us Move ?.  New Delhi : OpenWord and Oakland, CA : PM Press.  Ebook and hard copy available at PM Press <http://www.pmpress.org/>
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