Police brutality and racism news update

This 18 June 2020 video says about itself:

US police brutality: George Floyd‘s brother addresses UN meeting

George Floyd‘s brother Philonise Floyd has urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to work for justice for Black people in the US.

In a rare “urgent debate” on racism and police brutality, 54 African nations called for action.

Al Jazeera’s James Bays reports from the UN in New York.

Trump ad identifies Antifa with red triangle similar to Nazi symbol for concentration camp socialist political prisoners.

TRUMP SAYS POLICE KILLING ‘TERRIBLE,’ BUT ‘YOU CAN’T RESIST OFFICERS’ Trump called last week’s police killing of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta a “terrible situation,” but added that officers around the country had not been “treated fairly” and cast blame on the victim for resisting arrest. “I thought it was a terrible situation, but you can’t resist a police officer,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “If you have a disagreement, you have to take it up after the fact. It was a very sad — very, very sad — thing.” [HuffPost]

FORMER ATLANTA COP CHARGED WITH MURDER OF RAYSHARD BROOKS The Atlanta police officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks has been charged with felony murder. Now-former officer Garrett Rolfe is charged with 11 counts, including felony murder and three counts of aggravated assault. “We concluded and considered it that Mr. Brooks never presented himself as a threat,” Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said. [HuffPost]

Here’s what I want my white friends to know about my encounters with the police.

Five documentaries about police brutality to watch on Netflix.

CALIFORNIA POLICE INVESTIGATING NOOSES IN PARK AS HATE CRIME Multiple nooses were found hanging from tree branches at a public park in Oakland, California. Oakland police are investigating the incident as a hate crime. “Symbols of racial violence have no place in Oakland and will not be tolerated,” Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said in a statement. This comes as a new report from the Equal Justice Initiative has revealed that white mobs and individuals lynched at least 2,000 more Black Americans than previously documented from 1877 to 1950. [HuffPost]

THE POLICE AREN’T GOOD AT SOLVING CRIME According to the FBI’s official crime data, law enforcement solved just 46% of violent crimes and just 18% of property crimes in 2017, the most recent year for which numbers are available. Homicides and aggravated assaults were the only types of crime with clearance rates above 50%. They also solved only 35% of rapes, 29% of robberies, 14% of burglaries, 19% of larcenies and 14% of automobile thefts. Other FBI data shows that murder cases are less likely to be solved when the victim is Black. [HuffPost]

UNCLE BEN’S ‘EVOLVING’ AFTER AUNT JEMIMAH NAME CHANGE Pepsico‘s Aunt Jemimah pancake products’ name and logo are based on “a racial stereotype” and will be retired, the company said as demands for racial justice roil the corporate world. Rice brand Uncle Ben’s identity will be “evolving,” owner Mars Inc. said. [HuffPost]

Aunt Jemima and the long-overdue rebrand of racist stereotypes.

MISSISSIPPI OFFICIAL: BLACK PEOPLE ‘DEPENDENT’ SINCE SLAVERY After rejecting a proposal to move a Confederate monument, Harry Sanders, a white elected official in Mississippi, said African Americans “became dependent” during slavery and as a result, have had a harder time “assimilating” into American life than other mistreated groups. “You know why … they were slaves … they didn’t have to go out and earn any money, they didn’t have to do anything. Whoever owned them took care of them, fed them, clothed them, worked them,” he said. Critics called on Sanders to resign. [AP]