At a sparsely attended event for South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg in his hometown of South Bend, an activist in a Black Lives Matter t-shirt seized the microphone from one of the speakers, yelling “Who chose these leaders as black leaders?” and leading attendees in chants of “This is a farce!”
Councilwoman Sharon McBride of the 3rd District was speaking when the man started to interrupt. She stated, “I can handle that. I can handle that,” then segued, “Some of the things that I’ve always, also in the 3rddistrict, is not gentrification, it’s revitalization that begun in the 3rddistrict. We have built and sold two homes with 466 workers. We have also built homes — &#8221; She turned to the protesters, saying, “I’ll address you guys in a few minutes if you give me my time and the respect I will do the same thing.”
The activist started shouting, “Where are the black leaders that don’t have three-piece suits, leather jackets, and nice jewelry. Where are these black leaders? Who chose these people as black leaders? These black leaders are here to talk about Pete Buttigieg while there is black – people are having a crisis because of police violence. Who chose these black leaders as black leaders?”
Seizing the microphone, the man yelled, “Who chose these people as black leaders? Who organized this? We have a police crisis in this town.” As people wrestled him to get the microphone, he cried, “Why are we talking about people – what kind of nonsense is this?  What kind of nonsense is this?” Bereft of the microphone but still held by various people, he yelled,    “This is a farce! This is a farce! This is a farce!” As he repeated the sentence he clapped his hands and others joined in.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;This is a farce!&quot; This video is wild. 
An activist in a &quot;Black Lives Matter&quot; shirt grabs the mic at a Pete Buttigieg event and gets chased out after shouting to the audience, nearly getting hit with a cane at one point! Was sent video. Will try to snag more details if I can. <a href="https://t.co/A2mUiqUlnP">pic.twitter.com/A2mUiqUlnP</a>
&mdash; (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) <a href="https://twitter.com/jasonrantz/status/1202377150852059136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The event was billed this way: “Today, on Wednesday evening, prominent African-American South Bend leaders and elected officials will hold a press conference at the Charles Martin Youth Center where they will make a special announcement regarding Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Two black South Bend councilwomen—Buttigieg allies Karen White &amp; Sharon McBride—will join other black leaders from the city to make an announcement about the mayor’s presidential campaign at 5:30 p.m. <a href="https://t.co/Pk1DaHgpWw">pic.twitter.com/Pk1DaHgpWw</a>
&mdash; Adam Wren (@adamwren) <a href="https://twitter.com/adamwren/status/1202303391592042497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
A black council member from South Bend, Henry Davis Jr, sued the Buttigieg administration and city for not representing him after a libel suit was brought against him by four police officers. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/25/pete-buttigieg-south-bend-lawsuit-police-shooting">The Guardian</a> reported that after the two sides settled, “Davis charged that Buttigieg tried to sweep the case under the rug by including a gag order in that agreement.”
Davis said, “The same guy who’s on a national stage asking to have the Sandra Bland case reopened, calling out Trump for not being transparent and talking about police brutality is the same guy that is ordering his legal staff to kill the free speech of an African American elected official.”
Buttigieg has been trying desperately to gain a foothold in America’s black community since <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-scandal-involving-black-community-hits-buttigieg-campaign">reports surfaced</a> in mid-November that indicated Buttigieg falsely claimed to have endorsements for his plan to reach out to the black community, used a stock photo from Africa to depict African-Americans, and falsely claimed that the plan had support from hundreds of black voters who were actually white. Buttigieg&#8217;s campaign had started promoting a list of 400 black South Carolina voters that it claimed supported his plan, but it turned out that nearly half of the list was white.

Democratic Presidential Candidate Pete Buttigieg Campaigns Across Iowa

WATCH: Black Lives Matter Activist Disrupts Buttigieg Event, Thrown Out, Nearly Hit With Cane

Black Lives Matter

Pete Buttigieg

Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro joined Black Lives Matter activists outside of LAPD headquarters on Tuesday to demand police accountability for the death of Grechario Mack, a 30-year-old black man who was fatally shot by two officers last year.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This morning I’m at <a href="https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LAPDHQ</a> with <a href="https://twitter.com/BLMLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BLMLA</a> to call for accountability for the killing of Grechario Mack.
The police commission ruled that officers violated department policy when they fatally shot Grechario, but no justice has been given to his family. That has to change. <a href="https://t.co/Gf8pq5EKKz">pic.twitter.com/Gf8pq5EKKz</a>
&mdash; Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) <a href="https://twitter.com/JulianCastro/status/1201916311070281728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“He’s here because he believes in justice for black people,” <a href="https://twitter.com/SawyerHackett/status/1201919164098547713">said</a> Dr. Melina Abdullah, lead organizer of Black Lives Matter’s L.A. chapter, while introducing Castro at a joint press conference.
Castro, a former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama, <a href="https://twitter.com/JulianCastro/status/1201916311070281728">tweeted</a>: “The police commission ruled that officers violated department policy when they fatally shot Grechario, but no justice has been given to his family. That has to change.”
“I’m gonna use my voice and platform to speak up and make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Castro <a href="https://twitter.com/natimontelongo/status/1201929948954447872">went on to tell</a> reporters.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NOW: In front of the LAPD office, <a href="https://twitter.com/JulianCastro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JulianCastro</a> is meeting and holding a press conference with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackLivesMatter</a> activists demanding justice for the 2018 police shooting of Grechario Mack at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw mall. 
Castro is also joined by Mack’s mother and father. <a href="https://t.co/ivpmIIsJed">pic.twitter.com/ivpmIIsJed</a>
&mdash; Tim Perry (@tperry518) <a href="https://twitter.com/tperry518/status/1201913705128054784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a href="https://www.dailynews.com/2019/12/03/presidential-candidate-julian-castro-to-join-black-lives-matter-protest-outside-lapd-hq/">According</a> to City News Service, Mack was shot and killed by two LAPD officers on April 10, 2018, after he ran through a shopping center armed with a foot-long kitchen knife. Police <a href="http://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/news_view/63748">said</a> Mack was “aggressively” waving the blade before he moved “in the direction of mall patrons.” He “was very agitated, and it appeared that he was possibly under the influence or was going through a mental health crisis,” the department <a href="http://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/news_view/63748">added</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Breaking: Witness video of deadly officer shooting at Crenshaw Mall. Witnesses say man had a large knife and made threatening moves. <a href="https://t.co/loWqYYE9tg">pic.twitter.com/loWqYYE9tg</a>
&mdash; Jeff Nguyen (@jeffnguyen) <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffnguyen/status/983909776852533249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a href="https://www.dailynews.com/2019/12/03/presidential-candidate-julian-castro-to-join-black-lives-matter-protest-outside-lapd-hq/">According</a> to news reports, Mack was already on the floor when the final shots were fired.
On Tuesday, Castro said the LAPD officers involved in the shooting death should be terminated, adding that law enforcement needs proper mental health training to deescalate such situations without resorting to violence. He vowed to push for a national use-of-force standard if elected, promoting his police reform strategy, which includes implementing a public database to track misconduct.
“We are appreciative that Secretary Castro is the only presidential candidate who reached out to Black Lives Matter, standing in strong solidarity with Black Lives Matter, and he’s been willing to really push for police accountability and investment in the resources that would actually make the community safer,” Dr. Abdullah said.
Castro, 45, began publicly collaborating with Black Lives Matter after Abdullah <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/founding-member-of-black-lives-matter-begs-julian-castro-to-stay-in-dem-presidential-race">implored</a> him to stay in the 2020 Democratic presidential race. He had threatened to suspend his campaign unless he could raise $800,000 by the end of October. After reaching that goal and extending his candidacy, Castro attended a private event in Los Angeles last month, where he <a href="https://twitter.com/NiggaTheory/status/1195841777229418496">spoke to</a> Black Lives Matter activists and their allies about police brutality and prison reform. Days later, Castro announced the formal <a href="https://twitter.com/JulianCastro/status/1196459459465424896">endorsements</a> of Dr. Abdullah and her 16-year-old daughter, Thandiwe, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Youth Vanguard.
The Black Lives Matter network of activist groups <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/a-year-inside-the-black-lives-matter-movement-204982/">did not endorse</a> a presidential candidate in the 2016 race because leaders were unconfident that any of the contenders would prioritize black liberation if elected. However, Time Magazine <a href="https://time.com/5714603/julian-castro-progressive-campaign/">reports</a> that during this cycle, “Castro has made a place for himself by advocating for issues affecting minority groups and by consistently pushing his fellow candidates to take a stand.” Castro has <a href="https://twitter.com/JulianCastro/status/1139342691765051392">claimed</a> America’s policing system is broken, <a href="https://twitter.com/JulianCastro/status/1197360749003321344">called for</a> the legalization of marijuana, and <a href="https://twitter.com/JulianCastro/status/1160259526031024128">devised a plan</a> to “combat the rise of white nationalism.”
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/founding-member-of-black-lives-matter-begs-julian-castro-to-stay-in-dem-presidential-race">Founding Member Of Black Lives Matter Begs JuliánCastro To Stay In Dem Presidential Race</a>
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter<a href="https://twitter.com/jeffreycawood">@JeffreyCawood</a>.

Democratic Presidential Candidates Attend &#8220;First In The West&#8221; Event In Las Vegas

Julián Castro And Black Lives Matter Protest Outside LAPD Headquarters

Julian Castro

Black Lives Matter launched its sixth annual ‘Black Xmas’ drive over the extended Thanksgiving weekend, encouraging allies and people of color to “divest from White capitalism” and “invest in Black community.”
Canvassers began targeting shoppers in the Los Angeles area on Black Friday, <a href="https://blackxmas.org/">calling for</a> “no spending with White companies” through New Year’s Day.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackXmas?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackXmas</a> is 11/29/2019-1/1/2020 &#8211; Divest from White capitalism. Invest in Black community. Spend exclusively with Black-owned businesses. For more, go to <a href="https://t.co/X1x5fga81Q">https://t.co/X1x5fga81Q</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BuildBlack?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BuildBlack</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BuyBlack?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BuyBlack</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BankBlack?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BankBlack</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackLivesMatter</a> <a href="https://t.co/yB7jiMsSn2">https://t.co/yB7jiMsSn2</a> <a href="https://t.co/88c7eiDDg2">pic.twitter.com/88c7eiDDg2</a>
&mdash; #BlackLivesMatter-LA (@BLMLA) <a href="https://twitter.com/BLMLA/status/1200426095255928832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Part of the Black Xmas campaign is to educate black folks about what we’re doing, about the importance of holding back our dollars during this holiday season,” said Jan Williams, an SEIU member who heads BLM’s Black Xmas shopper education outreach program.
Dr. Melina Abdullah, lead organizer of BLM’s L.A. chapter (BLM-LA), recently described Christmastime as a “frenzy of consumerism that’s rooted in white capitalism,” claiming America’s capitalist economic system was designed to oppress black people. BLM established Black Xmas in 2014 to promote more collectivist approaches to economic liberty for communities of color.
On her weekly <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel/status/1199529332646924289">radio show</a> heard on KPFK 90.7 FM, Abdullah explained that the yearly effort urges people to donate to black-led liberation organizations in the name of loved ones as holiday gifts; move their money from “white corporate” financial institutions to black-owned community banks; and patronize black-owned businesses “that represent our interests and collectively benefit us.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Kicking <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackXmas?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackXmas</a> off by canvassing the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Mall. Shoutout to the Black owned businesses here. Stay tuned for more videos! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BuildBlack?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BuildBlack</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BuyBlack?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BuyBlack</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BankBlack?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BankBlack</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#blacklivesmatter</a> <a href="https://t.co/Wxg3JSHlTy">https://t.co/Wxg3JSHlTy</a> <a href="https://t.co/3fF57StbZp">pic.twitter.com/3fF57StbZp</a>
&mdash; #BlackLivesMatter-LA (@BLMLA) <a href="https://twitter.com/BLMLA/status/1200546770184556544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a href="https://blackxmas.org/about/">According</a> to BLM’s Black Xmas website, the seasonal exercise “is not a call to replace White capitalism with Black capitalism, but to engage in ‘cooperative economics’ (the Kwanzaa principle of Ujamaa).”
“It is meant to spark the development of a larger Black economic agenda,” the website continues, promoting concepts of “mutual aid organizations” and “Black cooperatives.”
Blackxmas.org goes on to state: “Donald Trump embodies White capitalism. If you are anti-Trump, you should hold back your resources from him and the like.”
In an op-ed published by the L.A. Sentinel, Dr. Abdullah blamed alleged police misconduct on capitalism, <a href="https://lasentinel.net/blacklivesmatters-blackxmas-is-not-just-about-buying-black-its-about-saving-black-lives.html">writing</a>:
<blockquote>In addition to investing in our own communities, #BlackXmas and the emerging economic empowerment work of Black Lives Matter is intended as a divestment from White corporations that contribute to the murder, death, abuse, and exploitation of Black people in real terms. We assert that White capitalism is killing our people in very real terms, most starkly through its utilization of a violent, racist, police force to protect its quest for profit. …
Black people, we must be radical in our approach, daring to get to the root of it all. White capitalism requires racist, violent policing to protect it. In order to eliminate police violence, and the killings of our people at their hands, we must also target the economic systems that built it and rely on it.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackLivesMatter</a> sings <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/policebrutality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#policebrutality</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/justicecarols?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#justicecarols</a> at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheGrove?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheGrove</a>. <a href="http://t.co/hiX68AcFIU">pic.twitter.com/hiX68AcFIU</a>
&mdash; Jasmyne Cannick (@Jasmyne) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jasmyne/status/546828044187336704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Previous Black Xmas publicity stunts include “<a href="https://twitter.com/Jasmyne/status/546828044187336704">justice caroling</a>” at an upscale L.A. shopping center, where BLM activists changed the lyrics of classic Christmas songs to reflect anti-capitalism and anti-police sentiments. In 2015, demonstrators <a href="https://www.scpr.org/news/2015/12/24/56480/9-charged-with-vandalism-conspiracy-over-405-freew/">blocked traffic </a><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-race-minnesota/black-lives-matter-holds-black-xmas-protests-in-minnesota-california-idUSKBN0U61QN20151224">near major airports</a> during peak times of the holiday rush, inconveniencing many travelers. About 65 BLM protestors <a href="http://laist.com/2016/12/24/trump_blm_rpv.php">disrupted</a> Christmas Eve brunch at the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, the following year.
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter<a href="https://twitter.com/JeffreyCawood">@JeffreyCawood</a>.

Christmas decorations background, fireplace christmas decoration, home decoration for Christmas, fireplaceб mantel decoration, christmas lights, gift box, candles, furtree

Black Lives Matter Launches 6th Annual ‘Black Xmas’ Campaign To ‘Divest From White Capitalism’

Dr. Melina Abdullah, a professor at Cal State L.A., who is also a founding member of Black Lives Matter, recently implored Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro to stay in the race, citing his advocacy on behalf of marginalized groups.
On Wednesday, Abdullah <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel/status/1189636592681418752">tweeted</a>: “Don’t drop out @JulianCastro!!!” We need you in this race!!! I almost never donate to candidates, but sending in my $100 right now. We so appreciate the unapologetic, powerful way that you’ve been speaking up for Black people specifically and POC (people of color), poor &amp; oppressed folks overall.”
Castro, a former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama,  threatened to suspend his campaign unless he could raise $800,000 by Halloween. <a href="https://time.com/5714603/julian-castro-progressive-campaign/">According</a> to Time Magazine, the drive “had raised close to 90 percent of its fundraising goal” by the morning of October 31, adding, “although Castro’s long-term prospects as the top of the ticket remain dim.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Don’t drop out <a href="https://twitter.com/JulianCastro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JulianCastro</a>!!!! We need you in this race!!! I almost never donate to candidates, but sending in my $100 right now. We so appreciate the unapologetic, powerful way that you’ve been speaking up for Black people specifically and POC, poor &amp; oppressed folks overall. <a href="https://t.co/LF8K7RCjfn">https://t.co/LF8K7RCjfn</a>
&mdash; Melina Abdullah (@DocMellyMel) <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel/status/1189636592681418752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
More from Time Magazine:
<blockquote>As the only Latino running for president in a period when the community has been the target of White House insults and an uptick in hate crimes, Castro has made a place for himself by advocating for issues affecting minority groups and by consistently pushing his fellow candidates to take a stand, even on tricky political topics… 
On the debate stage in June, Castro catapulted into headlines after speaking eloquently about the plight of migrant children and challenging his fellow candidates to decriminalize illegal immigration. And in October, he earned plaudits from progressives for linking gun violence and police brutality in communities of color…
Throughout his campaign, Castro has embraced his role as a voice for a minority community while running on a platform intended to appeal to a broader electorate. On the trail, he has traveled with mariachi bands, played Selena Quintanilla’s “Baila Esta Cumbia” as his go-to walkout song at events, and pointedly kept the accent over his first name on campaign signs. And when the mass shooter targeted Latinos at a Walmart in El Paso, Castro gave voice to fury. In an ad that played on Fox, he looked into the camera and addressed Trump directly, his voice calm but seething: “Innocent people were shot down because they look different from you. Because they look like me. They look like my family.”</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;We’re going to keep saying that <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackLivesMatter</a> while working toward a justice system where it’s true.&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Julian2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Julian2020</a>
&mdash; BoOOLián Castro 👻 (@JulianCastro) <a href="https://twitter.com/JulianCastro/status/1084148291955232769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Castro, 45, has struggled to attract substantial donations since entering the race in January. His largest fundraising quarter was from July through September when the campaign generated $3.5 million. However, he ended September with less than $700,000 cash on hand, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/21/julian-castro-fundraising-2020-053246">according</a> to Politico.
Sawyer Hackett, Castro’s press secretary, <a href="https://twitter.com/SawyerHackett/status/1189705859909259276">said</a> the campaign organized a nationwide call-a-thon on Wednesday night. Supporters made more than 10,000 calls soliciting donations within two hours.
The campaign <a href="https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/politics/article/Juli-n-Castro-says-his-presidential-campaign-has-14568889.php">told</a> the San Antonio Express-News earlier this week that Castro needs more contributions to compete in early voting states such as Iowa, where a recent poll showed him at 0 percent among likely caucus-goers.
The Black Lives Matter network of activist groups <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/a-year-inside-the-black-lives-matter-movement-204982/">did not endorse</a> a presidential candidate in the 2016 election and probably won’t this cycle either. Leaders have traditionally depended on their own organizing efforts and institution-building strategies to force change rather than politicians.
“It would’ve looked very different under Hillary Clinton,” Dr. Abdullah <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/a-year-inside-the-black-lives-matter-movement-204982/">previously told</a> Rolling Stone, “but it wouldn’t have been any kind of ushering in of black liberation under her either. You can’t rely on those in elected office to move us toward where we need to be. We choose to exercise a muscle that says our power and our liberation relies on us.”

Key Speakers At The Presidential Justice Forum

Founding Member Of Black Lives Matter Begs Julián Castro To Stay In Dem Presidential Race

Top organizers from Black Lives Matter have launched a nationwide effort to boost voter turnout next year among eligible young adults from the post-millennial generation, some of whom will be casting a presidential ballot for the first time.
NNPA Newswire, which provides content to numerous black-owned community newspapers across the country, <a href="https://atlantadailyworld.com/2019/10/07/black-lives-matter-launches-nationwide-voter-registration-initiative-for-2020/">reports</a> that “BLM’s goal is to hit all major cities where Black folks live and engage Generation Z,” which is generally considered to be people born after 1996.
“Black voters have traditionally been the Democratic Party’s most loyal constituency and younger voters represent the future of the party,” said BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors in an exclusive interview with NNPA.
BLM’s “What Matters 2020” initiative was recently introduced by Cullors, BLM Managing Director Kailee Scales, and Melina Abdullah, a college professor who heads the organization’s Los Angeles chapter. Dr. Abdullah is currently on a <a href="https://twitter.com/docmellymel/status/1160930398659985409">semester-long sabbatical</a> from Cal State L.A., which is part of the nation’s largest four-year public university system.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
It&#39;s time to center what matters and fight for the change we need! Join the conversation&#8230; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WhatMatters2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WhatMatters2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackLivesMatter</a> <a href="https://t.co/cnN3bxxAKI">pic.twitter.com/cnN3bxxAKI</a>
&mdash; Black Lives Matter (@Blklivesmatter) <a href="https://twitter.com/Blklivesmatter/status/1172194015015514113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-matters-2020/">According</a> to BLM’s website, “Demographic shifts mean that in the 2020 election, non-whites will account for a third of voters and one in ten voters will be members of Generation Z.” It says the campaign will amplify “the intersection of art, technology, and politics” while “sparking pop-culture moments across the county” to build “collective power.” Organizers intend to focus on progressive causes such as “LGBTQIA+” rights, “black immigration,” and “commonsense gun laws.”
“We will know that we are successful when each candidate has an acceptable and tangible comprehensive plan that specifically addresses racial injustice, criminal justice reform, police brutality and reparations, among other issues that impact the black community,” Cullors <a href="https://atlantadailyworld.com/2019/10/07/black-lives-matter-launches-nationwide-voter-registration-initiative-for-2020/">said</a>.
The Pew Research Center, which describes itself as “a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public” about cultural and political shifts, released an <a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2019/01/17/generation-z-looks-a-lot-like-millennials-on-key-social-and-political-issues/">extensive report</a> on Gen Z in January. It described the demographic cohort as the “most racially and ethnically diverse” of the five generations, finding that 48% are from communities of color. The firm’s analysis determined Gen Zers are “moving toward adulthood with a liberal set of attitudes and an openness to emerging social trends” and have much in common with Millennials:
<blockquote>On a range of issues, from Donald Trump’s presidency to the role of government to racial equality and climate change, the views of Gen Z &#8212; those ages 13 to 21 in 2018 &#8212; mirror those of Millennials. In each of these realms, the two younger generations hold views that differ significantly from those of their older counterparts. In most cases, members of the Silent Generation are at the opposite end, and Baby Boomers and Gen Xers fall in between.</blockquote>
Other findings from Pew’s study, titled “Generation Z Looks a Lot Like Millennials on Key Social and Political Issues”:
<ul>
<li>Only 30% of Gen Z approve of the way President Donald J. Trump is handling his job.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>A 59% majority of Gen Zers say people should have other options than “man” and “woman” when asked about a person’s gender on forms.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Two-thirds of Gen Z believe black people are treated less fairly than whites in America.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>61% of Gen Zers approve of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem to protest racism.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>53% of post-millennials say too many people are easily offended by the language used by others.</li>
</ul>
The Black Lives Matter network of activist groups has official chapters in several major cities, including Chicago, Louisville, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and the District of Columbia. Over the summer, leaders from L.A. traveled to South Bend, Indiana, to help establish a sanctioned branch and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-lives-matter-leaders-travel-south-bend-jeffrey-cawood">organize residents against Mayor Pete Buttigieg</a>, a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Cullors, who currently serves as the BLM’s senior advisor and chief strategist, is also the California director of the Real Justice Political Action Committee. The PAC has <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xiG7eVCDwiPmQXR-gK95cIHwyRvFlYZJ/view">prioritized</a> replacing the Los Angeles County District Attorney, who is up for re-election next year, with a “reform-minded” prosecutor.
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter<a href="https://twitter.com/jeffreycawood">@JeffreyCawood</a>.

&#8220;Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am&#8221; Los Angeles Premiere

Black Lives Matter Launches National 2020 Voter Drive Targeting ‘Generation Z’

2020 Election

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg met privately with Black Lives Matter members over the summer after a fatal officer-involved shooting complicated his run for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to a recent report.
The discussions began with a conference call in July, followed by a closed-door meeting last month inside the mayor&#8217;s office. CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/18/pete-buttigieg-met-with-black-lives-matter-after-eric-logan-shooting.html">reports</a> that Black Lives Matter activists claimed Buttigieg &#8220;brushed off their concerns about police violence in the city he has led since 2012.&#8221;
&#8220;He seemed to have already taken a side,&#8221; said Dr. Melina Abdullah, lead organizer with Black Lives Matter&#8217;s Los Angeles chapter, who participated in the phone conversation. &#8220;It did seem that he was prioritizing who he thought was important, and it didn&#8217;t seem to be black people.&#8221;
&#8220;I remember he felt very rushed, as if he wanted to check it off a box as something that he did,&#8221; Abdullah told CNBC.
According to the outlet, Buttigieg&#8217;s presidential campaign would not comment on the talks &#8220;and denied repeated requests to make the candidate available for an interview.&#8221;
As CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/18/pete-buttigieg-met-with-black-lives-matter-after-eric-logan-shooting.html">reported</a>:
During the call and subsequent meeting with Black Lives Matter, activists pushed Buttigieg to address the disparities they saw between the national figure they witnessed campaigning on a forceful pledge to go after systemic racism, and the local public official who, they felt, caved to bureaucratic obstacles and political opposition.
The conversations between Buttigieg and Black Lives Matter, which each lasted about half an hour, were intended to be private, and have not been previously reported. Members of Black Lives Matter agreed to discuss them after CNBC reviewed documentation of the meetings on the mayor&#8217;s calendars, which were obtained using public records laws.
Some of the individuals who discussed the meetings with CNBC agreed to do so only on the condition of anonymity because the talks were private.
Buttigieg&#8217;s relationships with both law enforcement and communities of color have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49964/report-south-bend-cops-demoralized-mayor-petes-jeffrey-cawood">reportedly deteriorated</a> since the June death of Eric Logan, a 54-year-old black man who was shot and killed by Sgt. Ryan O&#8217;Neill, a white South Bend police officer. Authorities <a href="https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/south-bend-police-officer-involved-in-fatal-shooting-resigns-from/article_39284f52-adfb-54ec-b830-d08ea9cad076.html">said</a> Logan approached O&#8217;Neill while holding a knife and refused orders to drop it. O&#8217;Neill&#8217;s body camera had not been activated prior to the shooting death. Police reform activists claim the killing is linked to institutional racism. They demanded Buttigieg fire or demote South Bend Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski and terminate O&#8217;Neill, who went on to step down from the force. The controversy has followed Buttigieg on the campaign trail, bringing issues like police misconduct back to the national stage.
Abdullah, who is also a tenured professor of Pan-African Studies at Cal State Los Angeles, was part of a Black Lives Matter contingent from L.A. that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49812/black-lives-matter-leaders-travel-south-bend-jeffrey-cawood">traveled to South Bend</a> in July to organize residents and help establish a local chapter. The L.A.-based activists launched a similar campaign targeting L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and the LAPD three years ago. Abdullah was recently <a href="https://twitter.com/docmellymel/status/1160930398659985409">granted</a> a semester-long sabbatical.
&#8220;If you ask black South Bend what they think of Mayor Pete, I don&#8217;t think he has a very big fan base,&#8221; Dr. Abdullah recently told CNBC. &#8220;So if he hasn&#8217;t been able to win the support of black South Bend, I don&#8217;t think he should win the support of black America.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/20/pete-buttigieg-hires-black-engagement-director-1505938">According</a> to Politico, Buttigieg recently hired a black engagement director to help garner support from among people of color. A recent CNN/SSRS poll <a href="https://www.bet.com/news/national/2019/09/17/pete-buttigieg-interview.html">found</a> he is only polling at 2% with registered black voters.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49812/black-lives-matter-leaders-travel-south-bend-jeffrey-cawood">RELATED: Black Lives Matter Leaders Travel To South Bend To Organize Residents Against Mayor Pete</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49964/report-south-bend-cops-demoralized-mayor-petes-jeffrey-cawood">RELATED: South Bend Cops Demoralized By Mayor Pete&#8217;s Handling Of Deadly Police Shooting</a>
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffreycawood">@JeffreyCawood</a>.

pete_buttigieg

REPORT: Mayor Pete Met Privately With Black Lives Matter Activists Over The Summer

On Thursday, civil rights activist and Black Lives Matter supporter DeRay Mckesson accused Black Lives supporter Shaun King of a lack of integrity, saying that King is like &#8220;the power dynamic of the system&#8221; Mckesson opposes, which &#8220;willingly sacrifices the vulnerable to protect itself, and replaces truth with convenient lies.&#8221;
Writing in <a href="https://medium.com/@deray/on-shaun-king-351bd812318c">Medium</a>, Mckesson delineates how he feels King has not been completely honest. He begins by writing:
<blockquote>A movement is only as strong as its integrity. Part of our collective work is to protect this integrity, even when, or especially when, doing so is uncomfortable or hard. It is in this spirit that I write, to address a lapse in integrity within the activism community so glaring that to be silent is to be complicit.</blockquote>
Mckesson notes that King had deleted all of his tweets and told people that he would no longer be involved in organizing or fundraising, but that claim did not come true.
Mckesson writes sardonically, &#8220;It is important to note that Shaun&#8217;s journalism has done some good by bringing attention to stories that may have gone under-reported or overlooked. But the person who paints your house before he steals your car has still committed theft.&#8221;
Mckesson opines that King deflects from the issues raised against him, and &#8220;Often bullies and intimidates those who ask questions at all, turning his ire especially at Black women, attempting to scare inquirers into silence.&#8221;
Mckesson writes, &#8221; … the love for our people must be greater than the love of any one person. Shaun has continued to thrive because many people cannot believe that they have been duped, used, or taken advantage of … His choices are so sweeping and brazen in their manipulation that they compromise others, compromise the collective work, and compromise a shared sense of integrity.&#8221;
Mckesson delineates some of the issues he has with King, including fundraising, where he writes that King led Justice Together, of which McKesson was a board member. Mckesson recalls volunteers and members complained about &#8220;being silenced within the organization slack group(s) or removed wholesale when they disagreed or challenged him … .&#8221; Mckesson writes, &#8220;When people disagreed, they were removed from the group or it was stated that they were white supremacists or trolls.&#8221;
Mckesson notes that King claimed Justice Together raised a $10,000 donation from a board member and a $17,500 grant, but he later said he returned 100% of the donations raised, but the $10,000 donation and the $17,500 grant stopped appearing in records. Mckesson adds, &#8220;To date, it is not clear that Shaun filed the appropriate taxes for Justice Together, as there is no 990 form available for public review from the IRS website.&#8221;
Mckesson claims King &#8220;took credit for other people&#8217;s work.&#8221; He notes King saying he raised $34.5 million since 2014. Then McKesson adds, &#8220;He takes credit for 100% of all funds raised for any fundraiser whose link he has ever posted online, in an e-mail blast, or re-tweeted … He knew that this logic was misleading, at best.&#8221;
Mckesson delineates other actions by King that he feels demonstrate a lack of integrity, including matters involving the Real Justice PAC, The North Star, Flip The Senate, and Red Record, among others.

deray_shaun_king.jpg

Black Lives Matter Supporter Deray McKesson Blasts Shaun King

On the verge of a new season, the NFL is trying a new corporate self-defense crouch. Its goal is to counteract criticism from the left that the NFL is insensitive to the Black Lives Matter crowd that urged NFL stars to kneel in disrespect of the national anthem. Those protests, which dramatically drove down NFL ratings and game attendance, came to a stop only when President Donald Trump called out the millionaire ingrates.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell held a press event with gangsta rapper/mogul Jay-Z and announced Jay-Z&#8217;s company Roc Nation will take the lead in selecting the NFL&#8217;s live entertainment programming and advise on its &#8220;social justice&#8221; initiatives.
Jay-Z, also known by his birth name, Shawn Carter, once backed Colin Kaepernick&#8217;s crusade but now proclaims it&#8217;s yesterday&#8217;s news. &#8220;I think we&#8217;re past kneeling,&#8221; Jay-Z said.
It wasn&#8217;t hard to predict that the nation&#8217;s enlightened — or, to use that obnoxious word, &#8220;woke&#8221; — sports writers were going to erupt volcanically over this deal. Jemele Hill, the sidelined ESPN lecturer, summed it up for The Atlantic: &#8220;Jay-Z has given the NFL exactly what it wanted: guilt-free access to black audiences, culture, entertainers, and influencers.&#8221;
Guilt is crucial for racial ambulance chasers. The man whose net worth tops the $1 billion mark by virtue of bad-boy anthems like &#8220;Big Pimpin'&#8221; is now the NFL&#8217;s Uncle Tom, selling his soul at the company store, working for the Man. This is fun to watch.
Our favorite leftist tantrum came from Hemal Jhaveri of USA Today under the headline &#8220;Jay-Z&#8217;s partnership with the NFL is just another reminder that capitalism always wins.&#8221; Wait a minute &#8230; Jhaveri wrote this for USA Today, which is about as entrenched a capitalist company and media power as could be. Does that make her a [capitalist]?
Jhaveri didn&#8217;t protest that evil capitalists subverted social consciousness when Nike signed Kaepernick to a deal worth tens of millions of dollars to hush talk of its Asian labor practices. But this was unpardonable. &#8220;While Jay-Z&#8217;s intentions may be good, this is about acknowledging the limits of how much progressive movements can achieve when they align themselves with entrenched systems of power.&#8221;
Memo to Jhaveri: There&#8217;s a reason Woodstock 2 was canceled. The &#8217;60s are over.
The lecture continued: &#8220;Free market capitalism works in many ways to control political dissent, but one of its most insidious forms is by making protest, the kind that requires real, significant sacrifice, into something that is not only unnecessary but feels beside the point.&#8221;
Capitalism is &#8220;controlling&#8221; dissent in the NFL&#8217;s case by bending over backward to pander to the &#8220;social justice&#8221; crowd &#8230; off the field. Football fans hate having the game ruined with political sideshows. And ESPN discovered fans don&#8217;t want socialist sermonizing as a badgering interruption of their sports highlights.
But the left never wants to leave the game of football alone. Athletes lecturing in press conferences or on cable TV isn&#8217;t enough. They want to get in America&#8217;s face and spur outrage on Sunday afternoon. They want to divide — and conquer. But they didn&#8217;t. The Kaepernick side has been trounced, and they can&#8217;t (and won&#8217;t) acknowledge that the war is over, just like some leftists will never acknowledge that the fight over the Redskins&#8217; name is over.
This all makes sense. The left demands we have a never-ending &#8220;conversation&#8221; about how everything that&#8217;s ever caused America to succeed in the world is based on racist power structures. They can&#8217;t stand the idea of listening to a rebuttal from the other side.
L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center. Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org. To find out more about Brent Bozell III and Tim Graham, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

Jay-Z

BOZELL & GRAHAM: Jay-Z Sells Out For The NFL?

Colin Kaepernick

A pair of seasoned, Los Angeles-based Black Lives Matter leaders recently traveled to Indiana to help local progressives organize residents against South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg as he contends for the Democratic presidential nomination.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/42812/black-lives-matter-leader-charged-battery-cop-jeffrey-cawood">Dr. Melina Abdullah</a>, who leads Black Lives Matter’s L.A. chapter (BLM-LA), headlined a community meeting last Wednesday attended by the family of Eric Logan, a 54-year-old black man who was shot and killed by a white South Bend police officer on June 16. She was accompanied by <a href="https://www.jasmyneacannick.com/black-lives-matter-activist-sues-after-arrest-during-l-a-police-commission/">Greg Akili</a>, a former union organizer who was <a href="https://lasentinel.net/power-concedes-nothing-without-disruption-a-response-to-the-los-angeles-police-commission-president.html">mentored</a> by Cesar Chavez in the early 1970s. They “were invited to South Bend to organize” in the wake of the officer-involved shooting death, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B0FL1Tcg7ZT/">according</a> to BLM-LA.
“What we saw with the murder of Eric Logan at the hands of police really is an opportunity to revisit and re-engage around the questions of police violence in black communities,” Abdullah <a href="https://www.wndu.com/content/news/Black-Lives-Matter-Los-Angeles-co-founder-speaks-to-South-Bend-activists-512868161.html">told</a> a crowd of about 75 people gathered at a restaurant in downtown South Bend.
Attendees wanted to learn from Abdullah’s experiences, explore ways to collaborate with Black Lives Matter, and advance local organizing efforts targeting Buttigieg and the South Bend Police Department.
“This was about getting everybody in a room and empowering each other and moving forward,” <a href="https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/publicsafety/l-a-black-lives-matter-leader-tells-south-bend-audience/article_1f058c37-a0d8-5776-bf53-52b49fcb7aaf.html">said</a> Jorden Giger, founder of a newly-formed local activist group called BlackTavists, in an interview with the South Bend Tribune.
Giger organized the get-together following a Young Turks <a href="https://tyt.com/stories/4vZLCHuQrYE4uKagy0oyMA/aiSoItcpfC720NgAEZbRc">report</a> that said Sergeant Ryan O’Neill, the police officer who killed Logan, “had a history of allegations of racist language.”
O’Neill did not have his body camera turned on when he fired his handgun last month. Authorities <a href="https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/south-bend-police-officer-involved-in-fatal-shooting-resigns-from/article_39284f52-adfb-54ec-b830-d08ea9cad076.html">said</a> Logan approached O’Neill while holding a knife and refused orders to drop it. A special prosecutor is investigating the incident.
At a Black Lives Matter rally on July 13, BlackTavists issued a <a href="https://www.abc57.com/news/we-are-going-to-keep-fighting-another-list-of-demands-for-buttigieg-presented-at-black-lives-matter-rally">list of demands</a> for Buttigieg which included paying reparations to Logan’s family, fire or demote the police chief, and terminate Sgt. O’Neill, who went on to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/south-bend-police-officer-ryan-oneill-involved-in-fatal-shooting-of-eric-logan-has-resigned-from-police-force/">step down</a> from the police force last week.
“O’Neill resigned because of community pressure, so I think the community absolutely has to see that as one of their victories,” Abdullah, who is also a tenured professor at California State University, <a href="https://wsbt.com/news/local/black-lives-matter-activist-demands-justice-accountability-after-fatal-police-shooting">told</a> WSBT News. “It’s really important that South Bend folks remember that this is their moment.”
Dr. Abdullah launched a similar campaign against L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and the LAPD in 2016. Demonstrators allied with Black Lives Matter <a href="https://www.laweekly.com/the-faces-of-the-black-lives-matter-los-angeles-encampment-at-city-hall/">camped outside L.A. City Hall</a> for 54 days after police commissioners ruled that an officer-involved shooting had not violated LAPD’s deadly-force policy. Activists <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/chapter/blm-los-angeles/">asked</a> Garcetti to fire the police chief and develop a reparations policy for the families of people killed by law enforcement, proposed reforms comparable to the recent demands made on Mayor Buttigieg. Abdullah and her allies <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel/status/956153973035053057">claimed victory</a> after LAPD Chief Charlie Beck announced his <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lapd-chief-beck-20180119-story.html">early retirement</a> last year.
Buttigieg temporarily <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/06/17/pete-buttigieg-pauses-campaign-after-south-bend-police-shooting/">suspended</a> his presidential campaign for several days following Logan’s death. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/06/21/pete-buttigieg-black-lives-matter-protesters-ebof-vpx.cnn">Video</a> of the mayor <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mayor-pete-buttigieg-protest-south-bend-black-lives-matter-confront-2020-democratic-hopeful/">addressing</a> a group of visibly angry black protestors back home went viral. The Indianapolis Star <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/07/18/takeaways-pete-buttigiegs-speech-indianapolis-young-democrats-of-american-convention-primary-2020/1684548001/">reports</a> that recent polling shows Buttigieg “at near zero percent with African American voters,” adding, he “kept hearing smatterings of ‘Black Lives Matter’” during an appearance at the Young Democrats of America Convention last Thursday night. While campaigning in Iowa over the weekend, Buttigieg <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/presidential-candidate-pete-buttigieg-white-supremacy-issue-ends/story?id=64465884&amp;cid=social_twitter_tw">told</a> ABC News that white supremacy “could be the lurking issue that ends this country.”
South Bend activists have organized a sit-in for August 3 to draw attention to the demands presented to Buttigieg. A flyer <a href="https://www.abc57.com/news/we-are-going-to-keep-fighting-another-list-of-demands-for-buttigieg-presented-at-black-lives-matter-rally">describes</a> the upcoming action as a “24-hour standoff” to take place at the County-City Building.
“We cannot lose this moment,” Abdullah <a href="https://www.wndu.com/content/news/Black-Lives-Matter-Los-Angeles-co-founder-speaks-to-South-Bend-activists-512868161.html">told</a> local organizers. “We have to save Eric Logan’s life, and the way in which his life was stolen can be used to preserve the lives of other people.”
A <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/26/south-bend-shooting-could-make-race-police-focal-point-campaign/?utm_term=.11d82e208dff">recent analysis</a> by Eugene Scott, who covers “identity politics” for the Washington Post, notes that the controversy in South Bend “has reintroduced to the national conversation the issues of police shootings and the relationship of law enforcement to black communities, in a way that has particular bearing on the 2020 Democratic field.”
BLM-LA <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B0FL1Tcg7ZT/">posted</a> pictures of the South Bend excursion to Instagram, along with the caption: “As Mayor Pete Buttigieg runs for president, Black South Benders are demanding that he not forget about home.”
“The vision, power, and will of the Logan family and community were undeniable. Stay tuned! We’re definitely ‘going back to Indiana!’”
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffreycawood">@JeffreyCawood</a>.

Black Lives Matter Leaders Travel To South Bend To Organize Residents Against Mayor Pete

A group of Black Lives Matter activists who staged a mutiny to oust the leader of the Sacramento chapter have formed their own organization, claiming to be the city’s only “official” affiliate sanctioned by the greater Black Lives Matter governing body.
<a href="https://fox40.com/2019/07/15/sacramento-chapter-of-black-lives-matter-put-on-hiatus-amid-leadership-issues/">According</a> to FOX 40 News, national Black Lives Matter leaders recently ordered Tanya Faison to relinquish her leadership role with Black Lives Matter Sacramento after several current and former members <a href="https://sacblog.newsreview.com/2019/06/04/the-fight-for-black-lives-matter-sacramento/">alleged</a> “an addiction to the power she was given,” along with “patterns of abuse.” In May, the seditious faction had asked Faison to “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47990/mutiny-black-lives-matter-members-demand-leader-jeffrey-cawood">publicly resign” and seek “intensive counseling</a>.”
Faison, who <a href="http://www.capradio.org/articles/2019/05/29/black-lives-matter-sacramento-members-move-to-oust-founder-claim-patterns-of-abuse/">founded</a> BLM Sacramento in 2015, has refused to step down. She is the only individual with access to the organization’s Facebook and Twitter accounts and continues to post from them, resulting in her detractors being forced to establish a separate activist group.
“Unfortunately, there’s one person who has control over Black Lives Matter Sacramento platforms, web pages, finances and things of that nature,” explained Sonia Lewis, an organizer with the newly formed Sacramento for Black Lives, which <a href="https://twitter.com/BlackSacramento">describes</a> itself as “Sacramento’s official Black Lives Matter chapter.”
FOX 40 obtained a letter that instructs Faison to “cease speaking on behalf of and/or representing Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc. and Black Lives Matter Network, Inc. through social media or any other means.” The directive came from the <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/">BLM Global Network</a>, a syndicate of activist groups operating under the BLM brand that serves as the parent organization to official chapters in several cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Toronto and the District of Columbia.
Last Friday, Faison and her allies used the Black Lives Matter Sacramento digital platforms to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BlackLivesMatterSac/posts/2353906664886173?__xts__%5b0%5d=68.ARCa8fOo3-WKGjye0Bt04J4neg2_uU6LHSBZ-Lxi7nOiJP44OGHn1oKFMgJmS4327mkXN7pBo_PF20BKL_jeuRvsEI0wOT4G4PG1jEjYHPngX75wE85QmAMOdrVKO6U65_hOjmDQvCdqS6fzyD0r7ynPvIkgeKXhjhc9VW0LEvmcYpl-H3DT5XbmMQc7ofMmrBqp0fV3waELEcb2Zlk6XTtYvJfiU6hyGpondU5w1yHSlHfMBgdcFzfRcF4_gv-HinxsZqyMGcOps8M0i5-EEYXzISvFhTAjHJC_RrtjVVqgmr0gUSQrlSzwa_7Fs2tMqu3p0FyuZQJoJnl7KQ8-8cJvrEpU&amp;__tn__=-R">announce</a> the organization she heads was no longer aligned with the BLM Global Network.
“They’ve told us not to speak on behalf of the national organization, and so we’ve made it very well known that we’re not speaking on behalf of the national organization,” Faison told FOX 40 on Monday afternoon. Faison has tweeted some heated rhetoric about abolishing the police in Sacramento <a href="https://twitter.com/tanyafaison/status/1142322506335805445">here</a>.
It is unclear whether Faison’s group will eventually change its name or continue organizing as BLM Sacramento. Some activist groups that identify themselves as “Black Lives Matter” are <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/07/19/kansas-black-lives-matter-holds-picnic-police-instead-protest/87299934/">unaffiliated</a> with the BLM Global Network, frequently creating <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/28961/black-lives-matter-group-changes-name-claims-jeffrey-cawood">confusion</a> for those unfamiliar with the black power movement while <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/21404/black-lives-matter-dc-condemns-fake-blm-group-jeffrey-cawood">sparking condemnation</a> from members representing official, certified BLM chapters.
<a href="https://sacblog.newsreview.com/2019/06/04/the-fight-for-black-lives-matter-sacramento/">According</a> to Faison, the uprising against her began about two months ago, shortly after she started receiving compensation as BLM Sacramento’s only paid employee. The funding came from a private health foundation called the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/25325/health-foundation-helps-black-lives-matter-spread-jeffrey-cawood">California Endowment</a>, which bankrolls several progressive causes throughout the state. Money trickled down to Faison through a local nonprofit, where she held the title of black liberation director.
The Sacramento Bee <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article231329913.html">reports</a> that the rebellion resulted in Faison losing that financial backing:
The new group’s board voted to terminate Faison from her position as &#8220;black liberation director,’&#8221; and she received her last check from the California Endowment…said Ben Hudson Jr., executive director of the Sacramento-based Gender Health Center. The nonprofit is the organization’s fiscal sponsor, meaning the grant money flows through it until the organization achieves nonprofit status, Hudson has said.
The two-year grant for $100,000 from the California Endowment, which was awarded recently, will continue to flow to Sacramento for Black Lives, not Faison’s group, Hudson said.
For nearly four years, Faison has been the public face of Black Lives Matter in Sacramento. She organized numerous protests that generated <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sacramento-stephon-clark-protesters-sacramento-kings-lockout-delay/">national publicity</a> around officer-involved shootings, most notably the death of Stephon Clark. Faison led <a href="http://www.capradio.org/articles/2019/04/02/sacramento-black-lives-matter-leader-arrested-at-restaurant-while-demonstrating-during-speech-by-district-attorney/">demonstrations</a> against the district attorney, <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article166539657.html">feuded</a> with the county sheriff, and <a href="https://www.nba.com/kings/build-black-sacramento-kings">partnered</a> with the Sacramento Kings NBA basketball team “to fundamentally transform Black communities” in the region.
“#TanyaFaison has definitely contributed to the beautiful body of work that is #BLMSacramento,” Lewis <a href="https://twitter.com/SoniaSaidItTho/status/1137196752505716737">tweeted</a> last month after the formation of Sacramento for Black Lives. “This shift isn’t about silencing/erasing her.”
“As the majority group we would hope and wish her well in healing,” Lewis went on to <a href="https://www.abc10.com/article/news/black-lives-matter-sacramento-announces-change-in-leadership/103-3ffc6830-1d68-4a71-ab5d-9f05e557788c">tell</a> ABC 10. “Eventually the community will tire of two groups, and hopefully other folks will encourage that much-needed rest that we think that she needs.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47990/mutiny-black-lives-matter-members-demand-leader-jeffrey-cawood">RELATED: MUTINY: Black Lives Matter Members Demand Leader ‘Publicly Resign’ And Seek ‘Intensive Counseling’</a>
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffreyCawood">@JeffreyCawood</a>.

REVOLT: Black Lives Matter Activists Shun Leader, Form New Chapter Claiming ‘Official’ Status

Sacramento

On Monday, Black Lives Matter leader Shaun King praised a self-identified far-left Antifa member who tried to attack an immigration detention center in Tacoma, Washington over the weekend. King lionized the armed attacker, whom The Daily Wire will not name, as “the first martyr attempting to liberate imprisoned refugees” in a series of tweets the activist has since quietly deleted.
“[Name] just became the first martyr attempting to liberate imprisoned refugees from a for-profit detention center in Tacoma, Washington,” posted King in his first now-<a href="https://twitter.com/shaunking/status/1150762544233140225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">deleted</a> tweet. “His hero was John Brown -the white abolitionist who led the raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. This is what our country has come to.”
Of the would-be terrorist’s “manifesto,” King praised it as “a beautiful, painful, devastating letter.”
“We are told that this is the final letter of [name] – who was shot and killed by law enforcement as he attempted an attack on a for-profit refugee detention center in Tacoma, Washington,” he wrote. “It’s a beautiful, painful, devastating letter.”
King also noted that the man “wasn’t crazy,” but “inaction is,” seemingly suggesting that others attack detention centers.
This tweet was <a href="https://twitter.com/shaunking/status/1150764744292388864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">deleted</a>, too.
In the activist’s final tweet which was also soon <a href="https://twitter.com/shaunking/status/1150769126777995266?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">deleted</a>, King said, “This is where [name] was murdered this weekend. His actions will be called terrorism and people will call him crazy, but neither are true. His mind was very clear. He is now ‘arm in arm with John Brown.’ These camps must be shut down.”
According to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/13/us/tacoma-detention-center-shooting.html">report</a> from The New York Times, a statement from authorities said the attacker was armed with a rifle and was “throwing unspecified ‘incendiary devices’ at the Northwest Detention Center.”
“One car was fully engulfed in flames,” said the Tacoma Police Department’s Officer Loretta Cool.
The attacker “attempted and failed to ignite a commercial-sized propane tank attached to the center, said Shawn Fallah, the resident agent in charge of the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility,” the Times noted.
“This could have resulted in the mass murder of staff and detainees housed at the facility,” Fallah said. “These are the kinds of incidents that keep you up at night.”
King has a habit of firing-off unsavory or patently false tweets on his massive Twitter platform and then later deleting them. In April, the noted race hustler wrongly connected a white man to the tragic murder of seven-year-old Jazmine Barnes, who is black. King claimed racial malice, of course, and the family of the man King wrongly connected to the killing was immediately flooded with threats. The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/41978/family-man-shaun-king-wrongfully-connected-jazmine-emily-zanotti">reported</a> at the time:
<blockquote>“<a href="https://abc13.com/5032056/?sf205595169=1">In a now-deleted post</a>, King asked his followers, ‘What more can you tell me about Robert Cantrell?&#8230;We&#8217;ve had 20 people call or email us and tell us he is a racist, violent a**hole and always has been. Just tell me everything you know.’” </blockquote>
But the man arrested for killing the child is a 20-year-old black male, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/07/us/jazmine-barnes-shooting-differing-accounts/index.html">noted</a> by CNN.

BLM’s Shaun King Quietly Deletes Outrageous Tweets Praising Antifa Attacker

Antifa

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Shaun King

While Duke University’s student newspaper, <a href="https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2019/02/aipac-ilhan-omar-and-the-blockade-on-critiquing-israel">The Chronicle</a>, characterizes Israel as a “murderous” country with “genocidal policies” and defends Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) anti-Semitic tropes, the Ford Foundation makes the Tar Heel State the focus of intense “social-justice investing.”
Long a hotbed of anti-Israel activism, the left-wing, New York-based philanthropic institution is the fifth-largest in the United States as of 2017, reporting $13.7 billion in assets.
The foundation’s original benefactor, automaker Henry Ford, was a Nazi sympathizer admired enough by Adolph Hitler to be mentioned by name in “Mein Kampf.” Ford distributed anti-Jewish propaganda in the form of a book titled “The International Jew,” and promoted the fraudulent work of anti-Semitic hatred known as “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”
The Ford Foundation today carries on Henry Ford’s shameful legacy by funding anti-Israel activism.
In 2003, Ford’s grantmaking was too much even for far-left U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), now House Judiciary Committee chairman, who <a href="https://nadler.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=390565">complained</a> when the Ford Foundation was caught funding “organizations that openly instigate anti-Semitism, call for the destruction of Israel, or engage in the promotion of violence.”
Ford gave the notorious New Israel Fund $42.3 million from 2000 – 2011, according to IRS filings. New Israel Fund, in turn, <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2013/10/31/edwin-blacks-financing-the-flames-connects-new-israel-fund-to-historic-ford-foundation-anti-israel-activism/">donated</a> to hundreds of smaller nonprofits, many of which engaged in anti-Israel advocacy.
But nowadays, Ford advances its anti-Israel agenda more stealthily.
Ford <a href="http://www.fordfoundation.org/ideas/equals-change-blog/posts/why-black-lives-matter-to-philanthropy/">embraces</a> the controversial Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. In August 2016, BLM <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/black-lives-matter-offshoot-embraces-anti-semitism-engages-with-terrorists">singled out Israel for condemnation</a>, declaring it an “apartheid” state engaged in “genocide.” The decision to single out the only Jewish state is blatantly anti-Semitic.
In North Carolina, Ford has funded a number of groups that promote the Hamas-supported BDS movement, which aims to use boycotts, divestment and sanctions to cripple the State of Israel.
One of the key groups in Ford’s Black Lives Matter portfolio is Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), which unites leftist radicalism with a hatred of Israel. Ford gave the group $1.7 million in 2017 for “youth organizing.”
Ford also funded the North Carolina-based Southern Vision Alliance (DVA), whose staff overlaps with BYP100, giving the group $100,000 in 2017. SVA promotes BDS propaganda.
Ajamu Amiri Dillahunt of BYP100 <a href="http://blackyouthproject.com/continuing-the-tradition-of-black-youth-organizations-solidarity-with-palestine/">laid bare the radicalism</a> of his group in a 2018 op-ed. The Durham chapter was “a coalition partner with the Demilitarize! Durham2Palestine campaign connecting our struggle against police violence to the Palestinian struggle against the violence of the IDF,” he wrote.
In a <a href="https://youtu.be/ElYUODNsWb4">Real News video</a>, Dillahunt said: “The Israeli Defense Force [sic] brutalizes and terrorizes the people of Palestine and so does the Durham Police Department. Here they brutalize and terrorize black and brown communities. So the U.S. funds billions of dollars to the Israeli occupation.”
BYP100 teamed up with the anti-Israel group Students for Justice in Palestine and others to pass the first municipal BDS policy in the U.S. in Durham, North Carolina.
In April 2018, Durham <a href="https://www.jns.org/durham-n-c-becomes-first-american-city-to-ban-police-training-with-israel/">became the first U.S. city</a> to prohibit its police from participating in “military-style training” with police abroad, a move interpreted by critics as part of an effort to isolate Israel and erode support for the Jewish state inside the U.S. The <a href="https://indyweek.com/news/archives/drawing-accusations-anti-semitism-durham-city-council-passes-statement-police-exchanges/">resolution</a>, approved 6-0 by the city council, states: “The council opposes international exchanges with any country in which Durham officers receive military-style training since such exchanges do not support the kind of policing we want here in the City of Durham.”
The coalition claimed in a petition that the IDF and Israeli police “have a long history of violence and harm against Palestinian people and Jews of Color … using tactics of extrajudicial killing, excessive force, racial profiling, and repression of social justice movements. … These tactics further militarize U.S. police forces that train in Israel, and this training helps the police terrorize Black and Brown communities here in the U.S.”
Ford funding has no doubt helped to advance the anti-Israel cause in North Carolina, spurring activism it has not underwritten.
The U.S. Department of Education (DoE) is <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/education-department-unc-duke-gaza-conference-anti-semitism-allegations">investigating</a> whether anti-Semitism played a part in a <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/46045/hammer-duke-and-unc-should-both-be-ashamed-their-josh-hammer">taxpayer-supported conference titled “Conflict over Gaza: People, Politics, and Possibilities,”</a> held March 22-24 at UNC-Chapel Hill. Rep. George Holding (R-NC) wrote Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in April, claiming the conference featured “severe anti-Israeli bias and explicit anti-Semitism.” Funds from a DoE grant were used to produce the conference.
Speakers and panelists “distorted facts and misrepresented the complex situation in Gaza,” and several speakers are involved in the BDS movement, Holding wrote.
The UNC Center for Middle East &amp; Islamic Studies <a href="https://mideast.unc.edu/conflict-over-gaza-conference-report/">acknowledged</a> hip-hop artist Tamer Nafar performed his song, “Mama, I Fell in Love with a Jew,” at the conference.
Calling it “my anti-Semitic song,” Nafar asked the audience to sing along, saying, “I need your help. I can’t be anti-Semitic alone, try it with me together.”
Taxpayers, alas, are funding hate at UNC.
Vadum is formerly Senior Vice President and Senior Fellow at Capital Research Center. He is a contributor to the news and public policy group <a href="https://salomoncenter.org">Haym Salomon Center</a> and an independent investigative reporter in Washington, D.C. Vadum is the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Team-Jihad-Sharia-Supremacists-Collaborate-Civilization/dp/1545237654">&#8220;Team Jihad: How Sharia-Supremacists Collaborate with Leftists to Destroy the United States&#8221;</a> (Center for Security Policy Press, 2017).
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46045/hammer-duke-and-unc-should-both-be-ashamed-their-josh-hammer">&#8220;Duke And UNC Should Both Be Ashamed Of Their Co-Hosted Jew-Bashing Conference</a>.&#8221;

VADUM: The Radicalization Of Campus Anti-Semitism In North Carolina

Anti-Semitism

Education

Ford Motor Co.

Israel

North Carolina

Police

Students for Justice in Palestine

An activist coalition in Los Angeles recently <a href="https://www.aclusocal.org/en/press-releases/lausd-ends-random-searches-schools">claimed victory</a> after education officials voted to end mandatory, random student searches in the city’s public schools, a policy that has been in place for nearly 26 years.
United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), a union that represents more than 31,000 educators in the L.A. Unified School District (LAUSD), partnered with the ACLU, Black Lives Matter, and student-led organizations that claim the practice unfairly discriminates against black, brown, and Muslim children, creating an authoritarian environment that makes some schoolkids more likely to become incarcerated in the future.
“This is some of the most significant work of the Black Lives Matter movement…the disruption of the school-to-prison pipeline,” <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel/status/1141279113388404741">tweeted</a> Dr. Melina Abdullah, lead organizer of Black Lives Matter’s official L.A. chapter. “Our children’s bodies and spirits will no longer be violated by those who seek to criminalize them in schools.”
The resolution was approved by the school board last month with a 4-3 vote. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-random-searches-lausd-20190618-story.html">According</a> to the Los Angeles Times, it “calls for the superintendent to end the searches by July 2020, and to come up with an alternative policy that would avoid an increased police presence at schools.”
The Times went on to report that “under the current policy, administrators search students.”
However, some activists who advocated for the change see it as part of a long-term plan to remove law enforcement officers from the district altogether. Dr. Abdullah, who is also a college professor, once referenced an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26194/black-lives-matter-youth-vanguard-organizes-jeffrey-cawood">incremental strategy</a> to eradicate police from school grounds, which includes “taking an abolitionist approach, and beginning by ending random searches.”
The L.A. School Police Department is the <a href="https://achieve.lausd.net/Page/15609">14th largest force in California</a>, protecting <a href="https://achieve.lausd.net/about">more than 600,000 students</a> on more than 1,000 LAUSD campuses. The L.A. Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-lausd-teachers-strike-guide-20190113-story.html">reports</a> that “the overwhelming majority” of pupils enrolled in the district “come from low-income families.”
Student-led groups, like the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26194/black-lives-matter-youth-vanguard-organizes-jeffrey-cawood">Black Lives Matter Youth Vanguard</a> and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/27046/black-lives-matter-rally-causes-rift-between-jeffrey-cawood">Schools L.A. Students Deserve</a>, have spent years <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/17157/la-public-school-teacher-whiteness-not-default-jeffrey-cawood">rallying</a> their classmates, teachers, and parents against the random search policy. Both organizations advocate for abolishing police in schools and include top organizers who have been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26194/black-lives-matter-youth-vanguard-organizes-jeffrey-cawood">mentored</a> by Dr. Abdullah. The teachers union <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43949/los-angeles-honors-black-lives-matter-youth-jeffrey-cawood">negotiated</a> on the student-activists’ behalf in a deal that ended a six-day strike in January.
As NBC4 Los Angeles <a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/LAUSD-students-not-suspects-searches-metal-detectors-vote-motion-stop-511467412.html">recently reported</a>:
Vice President of United Teachers Los Angeles Cecily Myart-Cruz said the union convened with student groups earlier this year to discuss what they wanted in the bargaining package following the recent strikes. As part of the settlement with LAUSD, the union’s contract stipulated that the random searches formally come to an end, with an immediate stop to the policy in nearly 20 schools, she added.
<a href="https://twitter.com/BLMLA/status/1093166075355774976?s=20">According</a> to Black Lives Matter-L.A., at least two of its members are also high-ranking officials with the teachers union, including UTLA Vice President Cecily Myart-Cruz. She <a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/LAUSD-students-not-suspects-searches-metal-detectors-vote-motion-stop-511467412.html">commended</a> the students “for standing up for their civil rights” and “for speaking truth to power on this issue.” While lobbying to end the searches, student-activists <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/student-organizers-protesting-random-weapons-searches">demonstrated outside of the homes</a> of the superintendent and school board president, along with organizing a sit-in at district headquarters during the work stoppage earlier this year.
“The sentiment is high to end this policy because we know it’s not random,” Myart-Cruz <a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/LAUSD-students-not-suspects-searches-metal-detectors-vote-motion-stop-511467412.html">said</a>. “We don’t stand behind the students, and the students don’t stand behind us. We are standing shoulder to shoulder in this fight.”
The school board’s decision puts an end to search procedures that were first <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-random-searches-lausd-20190618-story.html">implemented</a> in 1993 after two high school students were shot to death on separate LAUSD campuses a month apart. In 2011, district officials required daily searches at secondary schools after another shooting left two students injured.
Moving forward, the coalition <a href="https://www.aclusocal.org/en/press-releases/lausd-ends-random-searches-schools">plans</a> to “advocate for the district to invest meaningfully in programs such as restorative justice, positive behavior interventions, and peer mediations.”
UTLA’s bond with Black Lives Matter <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/27046/black-lives-matter-rally-causes-rift-between-jeffrey-cawood">created a conflict</a> with the school police department last year when the union used its social media platforms to encourage “youth of color” to organize against “the over-policing” of schools.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/27046/black-lives-matter-rally-causes-rift-between-jeffrey-cawood">RELATED: Black Lives Matter Rally Causes Rift Between Teachers Union and School Police. Cop Groups Investigate After Daily Wire Article</a>.
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffreyCawood">@JeffreyCawood</a>.

Teachers Union Teams With Black Lives Matter To End Random Searches In L.A. Public Schools

Los Angeles

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California recently filed a lawsuit against an election official who removed a church as a polling site because of its visible support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
The court document alleges that Fresno County Registrar Brandi Orth unlawfully changed the voting location for last November&#8217;s election, violating the free speech rights of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno.
<a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/election/article220919265.html">According</a> to a spokesman for Fresno County, voters had complained about signage on the church&#8217;s property which read, &#8220;Black Lives Matter.&#8221; Phone calls to election authorities indicated that the placards might discourage people from showing up to vote.
&#8220;The county asked us to cover the banners for Election Day on Nov. 6,&#8221; <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/election/article220919265.html">wrote</a> Rev. Tim Kutzmark in a letter to his congregation. &#8220;We informed the county that our banners were non-partisan/non-political and were a theological and civil rights statement, so we would not cover them.&#8221;
The lawsuit says the signs were approximately 200 feet from the church&#8217;s building. California electioneering laws <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/election/article220919265.html">require</a> signs related to a candidate or referendum be at least 100 feet away from a polling place; however, the regulations do not prohibit all political statements. Orth <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/election/article220919265.html">told</a> the Fresno Bee that &#8220;providing voters with polling locations that are free from public displays of political and/or issue advocacy is a priority of the county.&#8221;
Black Lives Matter activists in California have evolved beyond traditional street protests in recent years. The organization has <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/pressroom/black-lives-matter-global-network-withdraws-support-from-californias-ab-392/">co-sponsored</a> statewide criminal justice reform bills, and its chief strategist is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/35808/black-lives-matter-leaders-referendum-qualifies-jeffrey-cawood">currently leading a campaign</a> for an upcoming ballot initiative in Los Angeles County. Lead organizers across the state have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/16357/exclusive-radical-professor-calls-abolition-police-jeffrey-cawood">repeatedly called for</a> the abolition of policing, prisons, and capitalism, and often promote legislation and political contestants seeking to dismantle those institutions.
Kutzmark <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article231395768.html">said</a> he met with Orth in January in an attempt to resolve the banner issue and reinstate his church as a polling location for future elections. After what he described as &#8220;a series of refusals&#8221; by the county, the ACLU became involved and the lawsuit was filed last week.
Election officials <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article231450058.html">issued</a> a statement that accused the ACLU of mischaracterizing the controversy, adding: &#8220;While the County respects the church&#8217;s right to free speech, particularly concerning such a delicate matter as racial justice in our county, when the church refused any accommodation to the voters who were concerned with the perceived political nature of the sign, the County Clerk/Registrar of Voters determined that another polling place for the precinct would be in the overall best interests of the electorate.&#8221;
&#8220;The decision was not made based on the specific content of the church&#8217;s sign but due to the politically charged nature of the sign, its effect on potential voters and the Plaintiff&#8217;s refusal to cover or remove the sign for a single election day.&#8221;
The church, which <a href="https://uufresno.org/">describes</a> its parish as &#8220;a liberal faith community,&#8221; is an affiliate of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) &#8212; the central organization for the Unitarian Universalist religious movement in the United States.
UUA is the fiscal sponsor of an organizing collective inspired by Black Lives Matter called Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU). Its executive director is <a href="https://www.uua.org/giving/areas-support/funds/promise-and-practice/history-black-lives-uu">Lena K. Gardner</a>, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter&#8217;s Minneapolis chapter. The group <a href="https://www.uua.org/racial-justice/black-lives-matter/banners">urged</a> Unitarian Universalist congregations throughout the country to display Black Lives Matter banners at their churches to show visible support for the movement.
Rev. Kutzmark said the church&#8217;s contentious banners have been on display since August 2017, when a 32-year-old woman was killed after violence erupted at a rally involving white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia. He <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article231395768.html">claimed</a> the county&#8217;s decision to remove his church as a polling place is an example of institutional racism.
&#8220;At a time when we are facing voter suppression across the country, I&#8217;m hoping that no other polling place will ever be disqualified for affirming the worth and dignity of black people and other people of color,&#8221; Kutzmark <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article231395768.html">told</a> the Fresno Bee. &#8220;We also want the court to state clearly that the actions taken against the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno were illegal, unconstitutional and violated our right to free speech.&#8221;
Court records <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article231395768.html">indicate</a> that a scheduling conference will take place on September 17, 2019.
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffreycawood">@JeffreyCawood</a>.

California Church Teams With ACLU, Sues Election Official Over Black Lives Matter Banners

ACLU

Dozens of current, former, and inactive members of Black Lives Matter&#8217;s Sacramento chapter have revolted against its lead organizer, demanding she &#8220;publicly resign,&#8221; relinquish control of the group&#8217;s social media accounts, and seek &#8220;intensive counseling.&#8221;
The drama unfolded last week when 29 activists co-signed a letter denouncing Tanya Faison, who <a href="http://www.capradio.org/articles/2019/05/29/black-lives-matter-sacramento-members-move-to-oust-founder-claim-patterns-of-abuse/">founded</a> BLM Sacramento in 2015. They alleged &#8220;patterns of abuse&#8221; and &#8220;wide-ranging harm and manipulation which has significantly and negatively impacted chapter and community members.&#8221;
&#8220;She has chosen to criticize and vilify people expressing concerns or dissent and to lay blame upon individuals who left the chapter over her irresponsible and authoritarian leadership,&#8221; the condemnation <a href="https://twitter.com/Captain_Hooks/status/1133790912704798720">reads</a>. &#8220;We will no longer be associated with Tanya Faison within the Sacramento Chapter of Black Lives Matter.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
So <a href="https://twitter.com/tanyafaison?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tanyafaison</a> doesn&#8217;t get to decide if Sacramento needs her, the question is does Sacramento want her in leadership and the answer has been NO. I am committed to helping Tanya recognize her HARM and TOXICITY&#8230;..but the pain and manipulation are too deep for her to continue. <a href="https://t.co/s9Xe7FTna0">https://t.co/s9Xe7FTna0</a>
&#8212; Sonia Williams-Lewis (@SoniaSaidItTho) <a href="https://twitter.com/SoniaSaidItTho/status/1134008426797780992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
&#8220;We remain committed to continuing the work of Black liberation and abolition of the oppressive systems in Sacramento, and we are dedicated to providing space for the community to express their grievances and heal in the upcoming weeks.&#8221;
The statement was <a href="https://twitter.com/FansofaTee/status/1133789777117843456">first posted</a> on the chapter&#8217;s official social media platforms on Wednesday morning but deleted about 30 minutes later. Faison is <a href="https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2019/05/29/black-lives-matter-sacramento-tanya-faison-letter-denounced/">believed</a> to now have full control of BLM Sacramento&#8217;s Facebook page and Twitter account, which vanished last week. Capital Public Radio <a href="http://www.capradio.org/articles/2019/05/29/black-lives-matter-sacramento-members-move-to-oust-founder-claim-patterns-of-abuse/">reported</a>: &#8220;Faison says she is still the leader of the group, and that she has blocked those who signed the letter from using its social media pages.&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t intend to resign or step down,&#8221; Faison <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article230944223.html">told</a> the Sacramento Bee. &#8220;I have not been abusive. I have hurt people&#8217;s feelings, and I am aware of that, and I am working on making that better&#8230;but it&#8217;s definitely not grounds for me to not be in the chapter. I&#8217;m the founder and I do all the work.&#8221;
The seditious contingent later accused Faison of &#8220;recent deeply traumatic behaviors,&#8221; issuing a <a href="https://twitter.com/Captain_Hooks/status/1133880272213045248">list of demands</a> for her to satisfy &#8220;in order for BLM Sacramento to continue,&#8221; including:
<ul>
<li>&#8220;Publicly resign from her current position of leadership&#8230;&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;Relinquish access&#8221; to the organization&#8217;s social media accounts.</li>
<li>&#8220;Cease any further communications with family members of those murdered or terrorized by law enforcement&#8230;&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;Commit to weekly intensive counseling for a minimum of 1 year.&#8221;</li>
</ul>
&#8220;If these demands are not met, there will be next steps to consider and the future of this chapter will be in jeopardy.&#8221;
They also called on Faison to end her employment with the Gender Health Center. <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article230944223.html">According</a> to the Sacramento Bee, &#8220;the group recently started receiving a two-year grant for $100,000 from the California Endowment to fund the salary of the &#8216;black liberation director&#8217; &#8211; the position that Faison currently holds.&#8221;
The Bee went on to report: &#8220;The nonprofit is BLM Sacramento&#8217;s fiscal sponsor, meaning the grant money flows through it until BLM Sacramento achieves nonprofit status.&#8221;
For nearly four years, Faison has organized numerous Black Lives Matter protests, some of which generated <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sacramento-stephon-clark-protesters-sacramento-kings-lockout-delay/">national headlines</a> drawing attention to officer-involved shootings and alleged police misconduct. She has led demonstrations <a href="http://www.capradio.org/articles/2019/04/02/sacramento-black-lives-matter-leader-arrested-at-restaurant-while-demonstrating-during-speech-by-district-attorney/">targeting</a> the Sacramento District Attorney and publicly <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article166539657.html">feuded</a> with the Sacramento County Sheriff. In March 2018, the Sacramento Kings NBA basketball team <a href="https://www.nba.com/kings/build-black-sacramento-kings">announced</a> it had partnered with the chapter &#8220;to fundamentally transform Black communities&#8221; in the area.
&#8220;While great things have transpired under her leadership, it is not her alone that has made those things happen,&#8221; <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article230944223.html">said</a> Sonia Lewis, a current member of BLM Sacramento who has asked Faison to step aside. &#8220;She will always be the founder, and no one can negate the work she&#8217;s done.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/25325/health-foundation-helps-black-lives-matter-spread-jeffrey-cawood">RELATED: Health Foundation Helps Black Lives Matter Spread Anti-Cop Message</a>
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffreyCawood">@JeffreyCawood</a>.

MUTINY: Black Lives Matter Members Demand Leader ‘Publicly Resign’ And Seek ‘Intensive Counseling’

A defamation lawsuit fired off by Black Lives Matter leader DeRay Mckesson in December of 2017 against Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, AKA Judge Jeanine, was tossed Monday by a judge based on First Amendment grounds.
Mckesson accused Pirro of defamation over an appearance she made on &#8220;Fox &amp; Friends&#8221; in September of 2017.
&#8220;In this particular case Deray Mckesson, the organizer actually was directing people, directing the violence,&#8221; said the Fox News personality, as reported by <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/deray-loses-lawsuit-on-judge-pirro-and-fox-news?utm_content=buffer27570&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=theblaze">The Blaze</a>. &#8220;You&#8217;ve got a police officer who was injured, he was injured at the direction of DeRay Mckesson.&#8221;
The Black Lives Matter leader organized the protest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where the officer Pirro referenced was injured.
Following the segment, Mckesson tagged the judge in a video clip of her commentary. &#8220;I was found not guilty &amp; I didn&#8217;t direct any violence. In fact, I was protesting the violence of the police,&#8221; the activist wrote, referencing a failed lawsuit aimed at him and the Black Lives Matter movement. &#8220;Stop lying.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/JudgeJeanine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JudgeJeanine</a>, I was found not guilty &amp; I didn&#8217;t direct any violence. In fact, I was protesting the violence of the police. Stop lying. <a href="https://t.co/c1D4SM0VlB">pic.twitter.com/c1D4SM0VlB</a>
&#8212; deray (@deray) <a href="https://twitter.com/deray/status/913762995481776128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
The failed suit Mckesson was referencing was launched by an anonymous police officer who was injured at the Baton Rouge protest by a rock thrown by one of the social justice protesters in attendance. &#8220;Brian Jackson, a US district judge, dismissed the officer&#8217;s suit and ruled that Black Lives Matter was not an entity capable of being sued,&#8221; <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/28/black-lives-matter-police-lawsuit-deray-mckesson">reported</a> The Guardian, in 2017.
&#8220;Although many entities have utilized the phrase &#8216;black lives matter&#8217; in their titles or business designations, Black Lives Matter itself is not an entity of any sort,&#8221; wrote Judge Jackson.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Robert Kalish acknowledged that Pirro&#8217;s commentary was protected speech under the First Amendment, but made sure to take a swing at the host for her apparently off-putting &#8220;behavior&#8221; and &#8220;rhetoric.&#8221;
Justice Kalish &#8220;noted that Pirro&#8217;s own lawyer had described her shtick as &#8216;loud, caustic and hard hitting,'&#8221; <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-deray-pirro-lawsuit-20190326-lba6wrecv5cbfdz5tyzr65kbbu-story.html">The New York Daily News</a> points out.
&#8220;Pirro&#8217;s lack of temperament, and caustic commentary is what she is known, celebrated and frequently criticized for,&#8221; wrote Kalish, adding: &#8220;However divisive one might find the subject two-minute sequence, the law of this state protects the expressions of opinion it represents.&#8221;
&#8220;That the Court find&#8217;s Pirro statement&#8217;s to be protected statements of opinion does not mean this Court agrees with Pirro&#8217;s opinions or condones her behavior or rhetoric,&#8221; wrote the justice. &#8220;This Court is not blind to the undertones in this segment.&#8221;
Mckesson told the Daily News that he was &#8220;obviously disappointed&#8221; by the outcome of the suit.
&#8220;But as Fox argued and the judge recognized, when you have a certain reputation less is expected of you,&#8221; said the Black Lives Matter leader, taking a clear shot at Pirro.
Mckesson rose to prominence in the wake of the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, where he organized protests, some of which devolved into riots. Activists, such as Mckesson, peddled the false &#8220;hands up, don&#8217;t shoot&#8221; narrative.
The racial agitator also made waves when he gave a defense of looting during a two-day lecture at Yale University concerning the Black Lives Matter movement. &#8220;Looting for me isn&#8217;t violent,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/3529/obama-has-time-black-lives-matter-none-scalia-ben-shapiro">said</a>, &#8220;it&#8217;s an expression of anger &#8230; another way to dissolve consent, pressing you to no longer keep me out of this space by destroying it.&#8221;
Naturally, the controversial figure was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/3529/obama-has-time-black-lives-matter-none-scalia-ben-shapiro">tapped</a> by then-President Barack Obama for a meeting at the White House in February of 2016.

Black Lives Matter Leader DeRay Mckesson Loses Lawsuit Against Fox News’ Judge Jeanine

Barack Obama

DeRay Mckesson

Fox News

Jeanine Pirro

In recognition of Black History Month, the Los Angeles City Council recently paid tribute to Thandiwe Abdullah &#8212; a local student-activist who was <a href="http://time.com/5463721/most-influential-teens-2018/">named</a> among Time Magazine&#8217;s 25 Most Influential Teens of 2018.
Abdullah, a 15-year-old sophomore in high school, co-founded the Black Lives Matter Youth Vanguard. The advocacy group &#8212; made up of children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 &#8212; started organizing students, parents, and faculty against the &#8220;over-policing&#8221; of L.A.&#8217;s public schools in 2016. The district is the second-largest in the nation with an <a href="https://achieve.lausd.net/about">enrollment</a> of more than 600,000.
Thandiwe follows in the footsteps of her mother, Dr. Melina Abdullah, who is a founding member of the Black Lives Matter activist network and has led its L.A. chapter since its inception. The elder Abdullah has felt comfortable <a href="https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2016/09/29/for-first-time-black-lives-matter-event-held-at-lausd-school/">exposing</a> her daughter to the glare of media for several years while Thandiwe has blossomed into a nationally-known fighter for progressive change.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I&#8217;ve had the pleasure of watching my young neighbor Thandiwe Abdullah grow into a dedicated activist &amp; brilliant young woman. Last year she was named one of <a href="https://twitter.com/TIME?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@time</a>&#8217;s most influential teens for her leadership. Looking forward to all the great things she will accomplish in her life. <a href="https://t.co/EworyMdpKU">pic.twitter.com/EworyMdpKU</a>
&#8212; L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson (@HerbJWesson) <a href="https://twitter.com/HerbJWesson/status/1098338764684836864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
&#8220;I have the honor and the privilege to present to you a young lady that is recognized as one of the 25 most influential young people in this country &#8230; out of 42 million children,&#8221; said L.A. Council President Herb J. Wesson during a presentation at City Hall on Wednesday.
Wesson went on to commend Thandiwe&#8217;s activism and work with the Youth Vanguard, whose members were <a href="https://www.facebook.com/melina.abdullah/posts/10156135072840930">featured speakers</a> at a March For Our Lives gun control rally last year and currently lead a drive to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26194/black-lives-matter-youth-vanguard-organizes-jeffrey-cawood">abolish</a> police in local schools incrementally.
Black Lives Matter is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/27046/black-lives-matter-rally-causes-rift-between-jeffrey-cawood">allied</a> with the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) labor union, which went on strike for six days last month. <a href="https://twitter.com/blmla/status/1093166075355774976">According</a> to Black Lives Matter, at least two of its members are also high-ranking UTLA leaders. The two organizations often work toward common goals to transform the institution of public education.
&#8220;We were campaigning with a lot of the teachers to get random searches out of our schools because we found out that they were criminalizing a lot of black youth,&#8221; Thandiwe said at the ceremony in her honor. &#8220;We actually won that with our last strike when a lot of students stood with the teachers, and we&#8217;re so thankful to them for doing that for us.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
If you missed the 8am broadcast, please catch &#8220;Move the Crowd&#8221; on <a href="https://t.co/ZO9cEIVNNw">https://t.co/ZO9cEIVNNw</a> at 12 noon featuring the BLMLA Youth Vanguard talking about prison and police abolition, beginning with ending random searches and police presence in schools. <a href="https://twitter.com/BLMLAYOUTH?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@blmlayouth</a> @la_studentsdeserve
&#8212; #BlackLivesMatter-LA (@BLMLA) <a href="https://twitter.com/BLMLA/status/954037597063454720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
The Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-lausd-teachers-strike-negotiations-20190122-story.html">reported</a> that the district &#8220;agreed to expand to 28 the number of schools that will no longer conduct random searches of middle and high school students,&#8221; adding, &#8220;that provision was especially important to students who marched in support of their teachers.&#8221;
At Wednesday&#8217;s presentation, the younger Abdullah also spoke about &#8220;an attack on black bodies and black people.&#8221; She stressed the concept of intersectionality, a theory that claims systems of oppression overlap, institutionally dehumanizing groups that identify as marginalized.
&#8220;It&#8217;s really important &#8230; to give way to the people who are most vulnerable: that&#8217;s black youth, especially queer black youth; black Muslim youth, which includes me; and black trans youth.&#8221;
She has also promoted that intersectional philosophy when advocating on behalf of &#8220;the Muslim women and femmes in Palestine,&#8221; whom Thandiwe <a href="https://twitter.com/theIMEU/status/955549236719996929">says</a> are victims of a &#8220;global war on terror&#8221; advanced by the United States and Israel. She made those comments before an <a href="https://www.dailynews.com/2018/01/20/thousands-show-up-for-womens-march-in-downtown-los-angeles/">estimated crowd</a> of 500,000 people at L.A.&#8217;s edition of the Women&#8217;s March in 2018.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
WATCH: 14-year-old Thandiwe Abdullah from Black Lives Matter LA Youth (<a href="https://twitter.com/BLMLAYOUTH?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@blmlayouth</a>) calls for solidarity with Palestinian women living under Israeli occupation in a speech during the Women&#8217;s March in Los Angeles. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WMLA2018?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WMLA2018</a> <a href="https://t.co/550biQWdZJ">pic.twitter.com/550biQWdZJ</a>
&#8212; The IMEU (@theIMEU) <a href="https://twitter.com/theIMEU/status/955549236719996929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Thandiwe descends from a long line of progressive organizers. Her bloodline includes a grandfather who was an <a href="https://www.iww.org/PDF/history/library/Reimann/Politics%20of%20Occupy%20Oakland.pdf">active participant</a> in the Occupy movement and a grandmother who used to <a href="https://thelandmag.com/the-people-v-melina-abdullah/?fbclid=IwAR0oLvEZF4czQcmqrh--m51AibdOGKehG-8jG_fk9WPRc3eTuEmtievJo60">volunteer</a> at a breakfast program run by the Black Panther Party. As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/16356/exclusive-california-state-professor-brings-her-7-jeffrey-cawood">exclusively reported</a> in 2017, her great grandfather was the late Gunter Reimann &#8211; a world-renowned Marxist economist who was part of the Communist resistance to Adolf Hitler&#8217;s accession to power in Germany. After Nazi officials raided his home in the 1930s, he fled to the United States as a political refugee.
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/jeffreycawood&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1551278821955000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFDkawKcvUS046r3eAijUKhEBO9Jg" href="https://twitter.com/jeffreycawood" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@JeffreyCawood</a>.

Los Angeles Honors Black Lives Matter Youth Vanguard Leader In Recognition Of Black History Month

Police officials have refuted an accusation that an LAPD officer repeatedly yelled &#8220;white power&#8221; and made racist hand gestures at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Hollywood last week.
<a href="https://twitter.com/blmla/status/1091070019817984000">The misinformation was spread via social media by Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles (BLM-LA)</a>, a sanctioned chapter of the global organizing network. The group <a href="https://twitter.com/Jasmyne/status/1091414382431526912">captured</a> a 15-second video clip of a man donning a shirt that read &#8220;Los Angeles Police&#8221; which included what looked like department logos. He appeared to be taunting activists that were protesting outside of a 24 Hour Fitness health club on Thursday.
&#8220;We have identified the individual in question related to a video involving the use of racially insensitive remarks,&#8221; LAPD announced early Friday afternoon. &#8220;As first suggested by some, this individual is not, and has never been, an LAPD officer or employee.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
We have identified the individual in question related to a video involving the use of racially insensitive remarks. As first suggested by some, this individual is not, and has never been, an LAPD officer or employee. <a href="https://t.co/rHLAssqoWu">https://t.co/rHLAssqoWu</a>
&#8212; LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1091439414855663616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
The Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lapd-black-lives-matter-protest-20190201-story.html?fbclid=IwAR0UVgsFaQpQePeUFduKWmDGeJEYCA2rJD7tJoUTSj_8jlVZyM4O5xCzPjw">reported</a>:
<blockquote>
Members of the Los Angeles chapter of the Black Lives Matter organization were protesting the death of Albert Ramon Dorsey, who was fatally shot by an LAPD officer inside the gym in October. As the group was protesting, it encountered the man &#8211; who appears to be of Asian descent &#8211; wearing a shirt with LAPD logos on the chest and sleeves.
In the video, the man is seen chanting &#8220;white power&#8221; repeatedly, while gesturing toward protesters. He appears to be making white power symbols with his hands.
</blockquote>
The Times went on to claim that &#8220;protesters asked the man to verify his law enforcement status,&#8221; however, the publication failed to acknowledge BLM-LA&#8217;s tweet embedded in its article which had already incorrectly identified him as an &#8220;LAPD officer.&#8221; <a href="https://ktla.com/2019/01/31/activists-call-for-hollywood-gym-to-ban-man-who-yelled-white-power-during-protest-over-police-shooting/">Other local media outlets</a> that wrote about the video <a href="http://www.foxla.com/news/local-news/man-in-lapd-shirt-caught-on-video-yelling-white-power-at-protesters">also omitted any references to BLM-LA&#8217;s false allegation</a>.
Still, the footage attached to BLM-LA&#8217;s misleading tweet generated more than 1.2 million views. The activist group, which <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqmlK-7Ce_I">advocates for the abolition of police</a>, had <a href="https://www.facebook.com/blmla/videos/315940832381131">instructed</a> its followers on other social media platforms to &#8220;make this video go viral&#8221; even though its description of the incident was not based in fact.
[[{&#8220;fid&#8221;:&#8221;42737&#8243;,&#8221;view_mode&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;fields&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:false,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot from Twitter&#8221;},&#8221;type&#8221;:&#8221;media&#8221;,&#8221;field_deltas&#8221;:{&#8220;1&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:false,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot from Twitter&#8221;}},&#8221;attributes&#8221;:{&#8220;title&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot from Twitter&#8221;,&#8221;class&#8221;:&#8221;media-element file-default&#8221;,&#8221;data-delta&#8221;:&#8221;1&#8243;}}]]
&#8220;LAPD officer repeatedly yells &#8216;white power&#8217; and throws up white power sign as he antagonizes the family of Albert Ramon Dorsey and Black Lives Matter protestors,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/blmla/status/1091070019817984000">alleged</a> BLM-LA.
&#8220;This is what LAPD practices and condones,&#8221; the group <a href="https://www.facebook.com/blmla/videos/315940832381131">wrote</a>, again inaccurately describing the individual as &#8220;off-duty LAPD.&#8221;
City officials were forced into damage control mode after the untruthful information began to disseminate throughout the country, amplified by national criminal justice reform organizers such as Shaun King, who has more than 1 million Twitter followers (the tweet has since been deleted). 
[[{&#8220;fid&#8221;:&#8221;42739&#8243;,&#8221;view_mode&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;fields&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:false,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;screenshot from Twitter&#8221;},&#8221;type&#8221;:&#8221;media&#8221;,&#8221;field_deltas&#8221;:{&#8220;3&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:false,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;screenshot from Twitter&#8221;}},&#8221;attributes&#8221;:{&#8220;title&#8221;:&#8221;screenshot from Twitter&#8221;,&#8221;class&#8221;:&#8221;media-element file-default&#8221;,&#8221;data-delta&#8221;:&#8221;3&#8243;}}]]
&#8220;The person shown in a video that has circulated online is not affiliated with LAPD in any way,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/MayorOfLA/status/1091440433568264192">affirmed</a> Mayor Eric Garcetti. &#8220;Racism has no place in our city.&#8221;
Police Commissioner Steve Soboroff <a href="https://twitter.com/stevesoboroff/status/1091159738572656640">described</a> the provocateur as &#8220;just an idiot with a t-shirt.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Asian dude, front like an LAPD officer, saying &#8216;white power&#8217; at a Black Lives Matter protest. I don&#8217;t even know where to begin with that one&#8230; but, pretty sure he bought that LAPD shirt at a tourist store in Hollywood. Oh and you&#8217;re not white, bro. <a href="https://t.co/hJLjxADNaZ">pic.twitter.com/hJLjxADNaZ</a>
&#8212; Jason Zada (@jasonzada) <a href="https://twitter.com/jasonzada/status/1091495121856516097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
LAPD <a href="https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1091439417078689793">said</a> in a statement: &#8220;The apparel worn by the individual, specifically the T-shirt with LAPD insignia, is not Department issued and is accessible to the public. We will be working with our Entertainment Trademark Unit to ensure violations of our trademark on apparel are addressed.&#8221;
Meanwhile, BLM-LA&#8217;s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BtT34eqBipH/">deceptive</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/blmla/videos/315940832381131">social media</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/blmla/status/1091070019817984000">postings</a> from four days ago still have not been deleted at the time of this publication.
BLM-LA&#8217;s leader, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/16356/exclusive-california-state-professor-brings-her-7-jeffrey-cawood">Dr. Melina Abdullah</a>, is scheduled to attend a pretrial hearing on Thursday for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/42812/black-lives-matter-leader-charged-battery-cop-jeffrey-cawood">criminal charges</a> related to her anti-LAPD activism from 2017 and 2018 &#8211; including one count of battery on a police officer.
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/Near_Chaos">@Near_Chaos</a>.

FAKE NEWS: Black Lives Matter Falsely Identifies ‘White Power’ Provocateur As An LAPD Officer

Racism

The walls are closing in on race hustler Shaun King.
The Black Lives Matter leader and former New York Daily News columnist has been hit with mounting criticism from the Left for allegedly &#8220;exploiting black bodies&#8221; and trying to silence black critics with threats of legal action.
The initial onslaught against King began after the activist posted a tweet Wednesday threatening Clarissa Brooks, a self-described &#8220;black queer&#8221; writer, with legal action over a deleted tweet wherein she questioned King about funds King allegedly raised for Cyntoia Brown, a Tennessee woman recently granted clemency after serving 15 years in prison for a murder she committed as a juvenile.
&#8220;Are folks going to hold Shaun King accountable to money he &#8216;raised&#8217; for Cyntoia? Or is that going to disappear as well&#8230;&#8221; wrote Brooks in a tweet posted January 7. She later deleted the tweet.
&#8220;ANNOUNCEMENT: I have secured a four person legal team,&#8221; posted King to his 1 million-plus Twitter following, tagging four lawyers. &#8220;Talk s***. Crack jokes. Critique me. But when you post fabricated claims like this, you are in clear violation of the law. And we are fighting back.&#8221;
King posted in a subsequent tweet: &#8220;Another false claim has been retracted. This one, from [Clarissa Brooks], hurt. Spread across the Internet and took on a life of its own. It&#8217;s still spreading actually. I never even raised money for Cyntoia Brown. Never touched it. Never managed it. Had nothing to do with it.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Another false claim has been retracted. This one, from <a href="https://twitter.com/ClarissaMBrooks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ClarissaMBrooks</a>, hurt. Spread across the Internet and took on a life of its own. It&#8217;s still spreading actually.
I never even raised money for Cyntoia Brown. Never touched it. Never managed it. Had nothing to do with it. <a href="https://t.co/ma9R6cpYDr">pic.twitter.com/ma9R6cpYDr</a>
&#8212; Shaun King (@shaunking) <a href="https://twitter.com/shaunking/status/1085609083263205376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Brooks posted a lengthy statement in response to King, followed by a simple tweet reading: &#8220;I say all of this to say f*** [Shaun King].&#8221;
&#8220;I corresponded with King today, 1/16/19, after he repeated that he and his team would pursue legal action if I did not apologize to his liking. Less than ten minutes from that correspondence, he posted my social media on every platform and has strategically used his following to doxx and harass me online,&#8221; the statement reads in part.
&#8220;I stand firm in my beliefs and will not be releasing an apology. I will not be made to bend to his will for the sake of his ego,&#8221; Brooks added.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I say all of this to say fuck <a href="https://twitter.com/shaunking?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@shaunking</a>
&#8212; Clarissa Brooks (@ClarissaMBrooks) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClarissaMBrooks/status/1085695297890729984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
In the wake of the aggressive King post, journalist Earnest Owens claimed he, too, had been threatened by King with legal action.
&#8220;This week, [Shaun King] has sent me multiple emails, with several prominent Black lawyers attached, threatening legal action if I didn&#8217;t immediately retract previous posts I&#8217;ve made about him. I personally find this to be a form of intimidation as a Black journalist,&#8221; posted Owens in a Twitter thread on Wednesday.
&#8220;I want other journalists and activists critiquing [Shaun King] to be aware of this in the event that they will be found online and emailed similar information,&#8221; he added in a follow-up tweet.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
THREAD: This week, <a href="https://twitter.com/shaunking?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ShaunKing</a> has sent me multiple emails, with several prominent Black lawyers attached, threatening legal action if I didn&#8217;t immediately retract previous posts I&#8217;ve made about him. I personally find this to be a form of intimidation as a Black journalist.
&#8212; Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrErnestOwens/status/1085575562859630594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
I want other journalists and activists critiquing <a href="https://twitter.com/shaunking?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ShaunKing</a> to be aware of this in the event that they will be found online and emailed similar information.
&#8212; Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrErnestOwens/status/1085575566336684042?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Social Justice politicos, journalists, and activists alike were quick to slam King for his aggressive move against Brooks and his apparent past sins against the black community. (<a href="https://hiphopwired.com/playlist/black-twitter-shaun-king-clarissa-brooks-lawsuit/item/4">H/t</a> HipHopWired)
&#8220;Somebody should tell Shaun King that his house better be in order, because if he&#8217;s suing over an allegedly defamatory tweet, any defense lawyer would have a discovery FIELD DAY if even a quarter of the allegations against him are true,&#8221; wrote Rewire News&#8217; Imani Gandy. &#8220;Is he ready for that smoke? I doubt it.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Somebody should tell Shaun King that his house better be in order, because if he&#8217;s suing over an allegedly defamatory tweet, any defense lawyer would have a discovery FIELD DAY if even a quarter of the allegations against him are true.
Is he ready for that smoke? I doubt it.
&#8212; Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) <a href="https://twitter.com/AngryBlackLady/status/1085620619671068672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
&#8220;So Shaun King, a protester of the states treatment of Black folk is now using the same mechanisms to harass and intimidate a Black woman,&#8221; criticized activist and journalist George M. Johnson.
&#8220;Shaun King is one 23andMe away from this all being a wrap for him. He need tread lightly,&#8221; a subsequent tweet said.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Shaun King is one 23andMe away from this all being a wrap for him.
He need tread lightly
&#8212; George M Johnson (@IamGMJohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/IamGMJohnson/status/1085701059367129088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
In a video, activist and writer <a href="http://prestonmitchum.com/about/">Preston Mitchum</a> encouraged likeminded folks to support other leaders as opposed to King. He captioned the video: &#8220;Shaun King is a terror. I mean exactly what I say. For far too long, he&#8217;s used bloodied Black bodies for retweets and calls it &#8216;information,&#8217; he&#8217;s targeted journalists and young Black women attempting to him accountable. This is a disgrace.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Shaun King is a terror. I mean exactly what I say. For far too long, he&#8217;s used bloodied Black bodies for retweets and calls it &#8220;information,&#8221; he&#8217;s targeted journalists and young Black women attempting to him accountable. This is a disgrace. <a href="https://t.co/tnXgd85Ycm">pic.twitter.com/tnXgd85Ycm</a>
&#8212; Preston Mitchum (@PrestonMitchum) <a href="https://twitter.com/PrestonMitchum/status/1085683061361205248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>

BLM Leader Shaun King Buried With Criticism After He Threatens Black Female Writer With Legal Action

Race

A group of University of California, Davis students took offense at a photograph of a 22-year-old female police officer who was shot to death on January 10, and the reason for their outrage was itself outrageous: in the photo, which was taken from a series taken in 2016, officer Natalie Corona was holding a Thin Blue Line flag.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Officer Natalie Corona of <a href="https://twitter.com/cityofdavispd?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cityofdavispd</a> your life mattered. We stand with your family, <a href="https://twitter.com/cityofdavispd?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cityofdavispd</a>, the Davis community &amp; SPD Academy Class <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/18BR1?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#18BR1</a> and ours are broken. You are a hero Natalie &#8211; and we will never forget you <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/inthelineofduty?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#inthelineofduty</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/sacpd?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#sacpd</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/officercorona?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#officercorona</a> <a href="https://t.co/QbwFHhJ5Mp">pic.twitter.com/QbwFHhJ5Mp</a>
&#8212; Sacramento Police (@SacPolice) <a href="https://twitter.com/SacPolice/status/1083740804294701056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
As Todd Starnes of Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/todd-starnes-uc-davis-students-protest-photo-of-slain-police-officer-holding-blue-lives-matter-flag">reports,</a> California photographer Rich Laus took the pictures, in which Corona wore a blue gown as she carried the flag. Corona posted one on Facebook with the caption, &#8220;I would like this photograph to serve as my gratitude for all of those <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/crime/police-and-law-enforcement">law enforcement</a> men and women who have served, who are currently serving, and those who have died in the line of duty protecting our liberties in this great country.&#8221;
But the Associated Students, UC-Davis Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission, unlike others who liked the picture, objected. In a post from a Facebook page that has since been deleted, they wrote,&#8220;The flag is blatantly anti-Black and disrespectful &#8230; We see it necessary to call-out all community members who continue to post and disseminate images of the Blue Lives Matter flag online. We would like to directly address that this flag represents an attempt by law enforcement to undermine the Black Lives Matter movement.&#8221;
Starnes noted:
<blockquote>
The Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission also offered to provide help for students &#8220;triggered by this event and the circulating images of a flag that has been popularized by the &#8216;Blue Lives Matter&#8217; crowd.&#8221; &#8220;Flashing lights, sirens and increased police presence can be triggering to many Black and Brown people,&#8221; they wrote.
</blockquote>
Michael Gofman, the president of the Associated Students, UC-Davis, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/michael.gofman.3">responded on Facebook</a> to the post from the Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission: &#8220;I wholeheartedly condemn the Ethnic and Cultural Affairs commission for this disgusting post. It&#8217;s easy to sit on the third floor of the Memorial Union where there are at least 100 brave men and women in blue between you and the shooter. It is easy to argue hypotheticals, politics, and ideology when you&#8217;re in safety. I am ashamed that some of these same people, protected by the very officers that they are condemning, have the audacity to politicize the loss of a young officer. Her only crime was being a police officer.&#8221;
As <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article224520135.html">The Sacramento Bee</a> reported, Corona was on patrol alone on the evening of January 10. On the scene of a three-car collision near downtown Davis, she was in the midst of giving one of the motorists their driver&#8217;s license back when her 48-year-old assailant, who was riding his bicycle, left his bicycle in the shadows, then neared Corona and shot Corona in the neck, then continued shooting her after she had fallen to the ground. The gunman then started shooting at others, including a firefighter. After being tracked by police to his rental home and being summoned to come out, he did twice, once while brandishing a handgun and wearing a ballistic vest, then returned inside and shot himself in the head. Police later found a note he had written blaming the department for &#8220;hitting me with ultra sonic waves meant to keep dogs from barking.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
This video given by friends of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NatalieCorona?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NatalieCorona</a> says she always had a smile on her face. And they wanted the world to see ther beloved friend. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KTVU?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KTVU</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/cityofdavispd?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cityofdavispd</a> <a href="https://t.co/F2IzYimueu">pic.twitter.com/F2IzYimueu</a>
&#8212; Paul Chambers (@PaulChambersTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/PaulChambersTV/status/1083853395117596672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>

Menu