Armed protestors storm Michigan Capitol over stay-at-home-orders

Hundreds of protestors took to the streets of Lansing to protest Michigan’s statewide stay-at-home order, with several armed demonstrators storming the Michigan State Capitol building on Thursday.

In a video posted to activist Rob Gill‘s Twitter account, the protestors can be heard yelling “Let us in!” and “This is the people’s house, you cannot lock us out!” as they brandish firearms and hold signs in the statehouse. Many members of the crowd are pictured in “Make American Great Again” campaign hats and American flags.

Multiple armed gunmen storm Michigan’s State House, State police are protecting @GovWhitmer and blocking the gunmen from gaining access to the house floor.

This is America in the age of Trump. pic.twitter.com/tLWR2bvjtR

— Rob Gill (@vote4robgill) April 30, 2020

Michigan United for Liberty organized the event in an effort to get legislators to open up businesses that have been shut down due to the virus.

At the time, the Michigan legislature had gathered to vote on Governor Gretchen Whitmer‘s request to extend the state of emergency, which grants her certain powers during a time of crisis, for 28 more days.

READ MORE: Trump administration official likens MAGA protesters to Rosa Parks

The House ultimately decided not to approve Whitmer’s request, and instead passed a resolution authorizing the Speaker of the House to commence legal action on behalf of the House, according to local news outlet WILX 10.

Thursday’s protest, dubbed the “American Patriot Rally,” is the latest in a string of demonstrations that have occurred in Michigan since the COVID-19 crisis has emerged.

Protestors try to enter the Michigan House of Representative chamber and are being kept out by the Michigan State Police after the American Patriot Rally organized by Michigan United for Liberty protest for the reopening of businesses on the steps of the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan on April 30, 2020. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

Demonstrators took to the streets in April to speak out against Whitmer’s stay-at-home mandate, which was extended earlier this month until May 15. The demonstration, known as “Operation Gridlock,” was met with both adulation and criticism from the public.

READ MORE: Kentucky sees highest spike in coronavirus cases after protests

Whitmer, meanwhile, has faced backlash from Republicans, including President Donald Trump, for her no nonsense approach to the pandemic. Michigan currently has more than 41,000 cases of coronavirus, with 3,789 lives lost.

Detroit, the state’s largest city, has been especially impacted by the virus, with more than 8,500 infections reported. Of those cases, Black people account for more than 64 percent of them, according to AP. Almost 77 percent of the Detroit residents who have died from coronavirus complications have been Black.

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Nigerian filmmaker uses animated monster to teach kids about coronavirus

A Nollywood filmmaker came up with a creative idea to explain the coronavirus to children in his native Nigeria.

READ MORE: Travel entrepreneur chooses African over American in pandemic 

CNN reports that director Niyi Akinmolayan wanted to find a way to engage children while making sure they took the coronavirus seriously. That turned into creating a 30-second animated video complete with siblings Habeeb and Funke who were on opposite ends of coronavirus safety. Akinmolayan added an animated version of the virus to drive home the fact that it needs to be taken seriously.

“You want to tell your child not to go outside, but you need to explain why he needs to stay inside. Beyond that, you need to explain why he constantly has to wash his hands with soap and water. … It was really hard until I came up with the idea of the coronavirus monster,” he told CNN.

 

We have made this beautiful 90secs animation in four languages to explain the lockdown and coronavirus to kids. I have created a folder with all videos Please let’s get it on all TV stations and if anyone can sponsor on youtube, they should. Download here https://t.co/RxEO2LbdwI pic.twitter.com/u3DnyE3BM2

— Niyi Akinmolayan (@niyiakinmolayan) April 14, 2020

Akinmolayan helmed popular Nollywood features Chief Daddy, The Set Up and The Wedding Party 2 made the animated short completely online with the help of his Anthill Productions staff who worked remotely.

 

View this post on Instagram

‪Hello Nigeria. Have you seen the number 1 thing on @NetflixNaija today!! It’s a delicious film titled #TheSetUp. Made by really delicious people like @InkblotPresents @anakleng and @filmoneng. Directed by this hot guy looking at you 😘😘😘‬

A post shared by Niyi Akinmolayan (@niyi_akinmolayan) on Apr 24, 2020 at 3:52am PDT

 

“I figured out that one of the best ways to explain it (coronavirus) was with graphics and animations so that we wouldn’t have real people gather in one place to film,” he said.

Nigeria, a country of 200 million, has had some of its more populous states, including Lagos, where Anthill is based, shut down to stop the spread of the virus. 1700 people in Nigeria have tested positive for the virus with 51 deaths so far, says CNN.

Akinmolayan created the film, then provided it for free via Google Drive download so that other countries could use it to educate their own children. (We’re not sure if jollof rice translates but maybe other countries just added their own favorite food.)

The 90-second video was made in English and three Nigerian languages – Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa, have been translated into French, Portuguese, and broadcast in Turkey and China.

READ MORE: ‘Africans are not lab rats’ trends after outcry over testing vaccine

The Nigerian film industry is a $600M plus industry but there have not been a lot of animated films out of the market.

“What we need to be thinking about is the power of children and producing family content,” Akinmolyan said. “We need to pass a lot of messages that hit at the level of kids.”

You can download the video assets via Google Drive HERE.

Have you subscribed to theGrio’s new podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!

 

 

(Photo: Video screenshot)

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Remdesivir, antiviral drug, shows positive results in treating COVID-19

A major study of the remdesivir, an antiviral drug, is showing some positive results. The study was sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases which is headed up by Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci called the findings “quite good news.”

“The data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery,” Fauci said during a meeting with President Donald Trump and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards. “This is highly significant.”

READ MORE: Trump retweets post calling for Dr. Anthony Fauci to be fired

The NIH trial of the antiviral drug began on Feb. 21 and was conducted by Gilead Sciences. The results have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal yet, but the NIH released the results after a data monitoring board analyzed the results.

The analysis found that the drug shortened the time that it takes for a hospitalized COVID-19 patient to recover when compared to a placebo. Fauci stated that the drug would also be administered to patients who got the placebo.

Dr. Anthony Fauci (R), director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, while flanked by President Donald Trump during the daily coronavirus task force briefing in the Brady Briefing room at the White House on March 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Remdesivir has been shown to help COVID-19 patients recovered 31% faster. The recovery time was shortened from 15 days to 11 days. The results also show a slightly lower mortality rate, but there will be further study to that point.

Dr. Annesh K. Mehta, an investigator at the remdesivir trial site at Emory University, said at a news conference that, “We believe that remdesivir is the first medication to show a positive effect on patients with COVID-19.”

READ MORE: HHS official to file whistleblower complaint over drug pushed by Trump

However, Mehta stated that the drug has not “undergone the robust analysis that will be conducted by the statisticians and the scientists at the NIH in the coming weeks.”

While the study results are promising, Mehta warns that the drug and antivirals, in general, are not “silver bullets.” He says that the drug will not “immediately get rid of an infection.”

Fauci said that more studies will be conducted combining remdesivir with other drugs to see how various combinations compare to using remdesivir alone.

Remdesivir is an antiviral produced by the US pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences.

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Majority Of NFL 1st-Round Picks Have Black Agents For The First Time

History was made at the latest NFL draft! For the first time in National Football League history, more than half of the players selected in the first round of the draft were being represented by black agents, according to The Washington Post.

Seventeen of the 32 players who were drafted on Thursday night are being represented by black agents. This moment was noticed by NFL agent Nicole Lynn, who, just at last year’s NFL draft, became the first black female sports agent to represent a top-three pick when the New York Jets took defensive lineman Quinnen Williams.

She and 10 of her fellow sports agent colleagues, who include David Mulugheta, Damarius Bilbo, Tory Dandy, Jovan Barnes, and others, are all a part of the changing of the guard of respected NFL agents. They are helping players become more comfortable with a black agent representing them as well as the expected white sports agents.

“There’s always a struggle getting people comfortable with you doing the job,” Lynn tells The Washington Post, “and understanding that just because you don’t look like Jerry Maguire doesn’t mean you can’t do that job.”

The credit for the recent shift is owed to the late Eugene Parker, who some acknowledge as the “godfather” of black agents, for paving the way for them.

“Eugene set the tone for all black agents,” Lynn told the Post.

Parker, who died at the age of 60 in 2016, represented Hines Ward, Emmitt Smith, and Walter Jones, among others, and is often described as the first black “super agent.”

Lynn also said: “From my research, out of all the top black agents — David [Mulugheta], Tory [Dandy], myself, Chafie [Fields], [Damarius] Bilbo — not any of us have a single white player. I’m not talking about having a few white players. I’m saying not one. And between all of us, we’re talking about more than 150 players.

“And it’s not for lack of effort. I can’t get a white player, and I’ve tried. Literally my goal this year is to sign a white player. I want them to be able to believe in me because if we really want to change the way athletes view sports, we have to make everyone comfortable with us, not just people that look like us. The real test is to have people that don’t look like you buy in.”

Ultimately, the most successful black agents said they would like to be judged on merit, not because they are black.

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