Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president has been pushed by his supporters to nominate a Black, female candidate to join him on the ticket. As names like Sen. Kamala Harris,Stacey Abrams, Florida Rep. Val Demings have been mentioned in that role, so has Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar.
But in the wake of widescale protests since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, all of the women whose backgrounds include law enforcement in some area, except for Abrams, are now viewed as potential liabilities to the campaign.
Politico reports that Klobuchar’s record, in particular, has come under scrutiny. She was the Minneapolis-area prosecutor from 1996-2006 who had a reputation for being tough on crime.
In 2006, while she was running for the Senate office she now holds, Derek Chauvin was involved in an officer-involved shooting. Though Klobuchar had left her office as a prosecutor by then, she is still bearing the brunt of criticism for her overall record.
“There is a direct line of culpability between Klobuchar and this officer who lynched a man,” LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the group Black Voters Matter told Politico.
Harris and Demings, who ran the Orlando police department from 2007-2011 and is gaining more of a national profile, don’t have as troubling records. But Harris, who is the former California attorney general, has been criticized for some of the things she’s done as a prosecutor.
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks during a rally at Aiken High School in Aiken, S.C. Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019. (Michael Holahan/The Augusta Chronicle via AP)
However, most political experts don’t believe that either of them has as difficult a path to a potential VP slot as Klobuchar, given the protests sweeping the country after Floyd’s death.
“Kamala has had some questionable cases, but not to the degree of Amy,” Sharpton told Politico. “If I were to list them, I would say Val is the least affected, and Amy is the most challenged by it.”
Though no one has spoken openly about Biden’s decision making or who may be atop his list, Klobuchar says she’s not taking herself out of the running.
A representative for Mayweather confirmed to TMZ Sports Monday that Floyd’s family had decided to take the boxing champ up on his offer. Hollywood Unlocked first reported that Mayweather spoke to the site’s CEO Jason Lee about his frustration that now-former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin was only charged with third-degree murder in Floyd’s death.
Furthermore, the boxing champ learned he had an unexpected connection to Floyd. Anzel Jennings, the CEO of Mayweather’s TMT music label, told Mayweather that he grew up with Floyd in Houston, Texas.
According to Lee, Jennings then reached out to Floyd’s family on behalf of Mayweather. The offer was extended for the former heavyweight champion to pay for the three services that are planned for Floyd in Houston, Minnesota and Charlotte, North Carolina. There may also be a fourth service that the family arranges and Mayweather is committed to paying for that as well.
Lee shared the details of his private conversation with Mayweather because, he said, it was too important not to.
“I felt it was important to share this because his voice has a global impact that needs to be heard, especially during these times,” Lee said.
Floyd’s death, which was captured on a cell phone recording by a bystander, has led to nationwide protests which have turned violent in several cities. At one point, President Donald Trump took refuge in a bunker as the demonstrators showed up to the White House.
Floyd’s family has appreciated the support but is asking the public to advocate for justice in peaceful, non-violent actions and by voting. They have condemned the violence and looting done in Floyd’s name.
“[S]ometimes I get angry, I want to bust some heads, too,” Terrence Floyd told Good Morning America host Robin Roberts. “I wanna … just go crazy. But I’m here. My brother wasn’t about that. My brother was about peace. You’ll hear a lot of people say he was a gentle giant.”
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Industry veteran Dream Hampton has been speaking truth to power for her entire career. Now it’s being reported that the executive producer behind Lifetime’s über-successful docuseries Surviving R. Kelly, is working on a new project highlighting the Tulsa race massacre.
According to Deadline, Hampton will be directing Cineflix’s Black Wall Street and also serve as an executive producer on the project highlighting the infamous Tulsa race massacre of 1921.
“After 99 years of silence, Black Wall Street needs to be told, and there’s no one better than Dream Hampton to bring it to life. Driven by social justice, her sensitive yet hard-hitting approach will honor the fallen and help heal a wound by shining a light on a story that’s been brushed under the rug for far too long,” said Cineflix Productions president J.C. Mills.
“If the recent tragic stories of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have shown us anything, it’s that there’s still much work to be done.”
READ MORE:
Dream Hampton, executive producer of #SurvivingRKelly, will direct 'Black Wall Street,' a documentary series about the Tulsa Race Massacre, a deadly act of racial violence committed 99 years ago https://t.co/KO12nlGiCI
Hampton, who won an Emmy for Surviving R. Kelly added: “Black people from Tulsa have refused to let the Greenwood District Massacre be erased from history. I’m so inspired by their persistence to lift up the stories of what North Tulsa was before the massacre.”
The series will pay particular attention to current Tulsa mayor G.T. Bynum’s push to find the mass graves of the over 300 Black Americans who were killed by white mobs and be debuting on the 100 year anniversary of the incident.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid racial unrest across the nation, President Donald Trump on Monday declared himself “the president of law and order” and threatened to deploy the United States military to American cities to quell a rise of violent protests.
As Trump spoke, an incredible TV split screen developed around the White House. While he addressed the nation in the White House’s idyllic Rose Garden, a series of military vehicles rolled out front on Pennsylvania Avenue and military police and law enforcement clashed with protesters at Lafayette Park.
Trump said he would mobilize “thousands and thousands” of soldiers to keep the peace if governors did not use the National Guard to shut down the protests. Loud tear gas explosions could be heard as authorities moved what appeared to be peaceful protests in the park. The escalation came just after Attorney General William Barr came to the park to to survey the demonstrators.
According to senior defense officials, between 600 and 800 National Guard members from five states were being sent to Washington to provide assistance. Those troops were either already on the ground or will arrive by midnight.
Under the Civil War-era Posse Comitatus Act, federal troops are prohibited from performing domestic law enforcement actions such as making arrests, seizing property or searching people. In extreme cases, however, the president can invoke the Insurrection Act, also from the Civil War, which allows the use of active-duty or National Guard troops for law enforcement.
The officials said that some of the National Guard in D.C. will be armed and others will not. They said that the D.C. guard members do not have non-lethal weapons. The military police that are visible in the city are members of the Guard.
——————-
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s original story is below.
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President Donald Trump on Monday derided many governors as “weak” and demanded tougher crackdowns on burning and stealing among some demonstrations in the aftermath of violent protests in dozens of American cities.
U.S. President Doanld Trump speaks after the successful launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the manned Crew Dragon spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center on May 30, 2020 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Photo by Saul Martinez/Getty Images)
Trump spoke to governors on a video teleconference that also included law enforcement and national security officials, telling the state leaders they “have to get much tougher.”
“Most of you are weak,” Trump said. “You have to arrest people.”
The days of protests were triggered by the death of George Floyd, a black man who died when a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving and pleading for air. The demonstrations turned violent in several cities, with people trashing stores, smashing and burning police cars and igniting fires in historic Lafayette Park across from the White House.
Accused by critics of doing too little to defuse the crisis, Trump was to address the nation early Monday evening.
The president urged the governors to deploy the National Guard, which he credited for helping calm the situation Sunday night in Minneapolis. He demanded that similarly tough measures be taken in cities that also experienced violence, including New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
“You’ve got to arrest people, you have to track people, you have to put them in jail for 10 years and you’ll never see this stuff again,” said Trump. “We’re doing it in Washington, D.C. We’re going to do something that people haven’t seen before.”
The president told the governors they were making themselves “look like fools” for not calling up more of the National Guard as a show for force on city streets.
Attorney General Bill Barr, who was also on the call, told governors that a joint terrorist task force would be used to track agitators and urged local officials to “dominate” the streets and control, not react to crowds. He urged the governors to “go after troublemakers.”
Trump’s angry exhortations at the nation’s governors came after a Sunday night of escalating violence, images of fires and looting and clashes with police filling the nation’s airwaves and overshadowing the largely peaceful protests. The protests had grown so heated Friday night that the Secret Service rushed the president to an underground bunker previously used during terrorist attacks.
On Monday, Trump also spoke of trying to criminalize flag-burning. The Supreme Court has conservative new members since it last ruled on that issue, and Trump said that “I think it’s time to review that again.”
He continued his effort to project strength, using inflammatory tweets and delivering partisan attacks.
Members of the U.S. Secret Service hold a perimeter near the White House as demonstrators gather to protest the killing of George Floyd on May 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
As cities have burned night after night and images of violence have dominated television coverage, Trump’s advisers have discussed the prospect of an Oval Office address in an attempt to ease tensions. The notion was quickly scrapped for lack of policy proposals and the president’s own seeming disinterest in delivering a message of unity.
Trump did not appear in public on Sunday and was not scheduled to on Monday either.
The demonstrations in Washington appeared to catch officers by surprise. They sparked one of the highest alerts at the White House complex since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
Trump has told advisers he worries about his safety, while both privately and publicly praising the work of the Secret Service.
Demonstrators returned Sunday afternoon, facing off against police at Lafayette Park into the evening. Trump retweeted a message from a conservative commentator encouraging authorities to respond with greater force.
“This isn’t going to stop until the good guys are willing to use overwhelming force against the bad guys,” Buck Sexton wrote in a message amplified by the president.
In recent days security at the White House has been reinforced by the National Guard and additional personnel from the Secret Service and the U.S. Park Police.
The Justice Department deployed members of the U.S. Marshals Service and agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration to supplement National Guard troops outside the White House, according to a senior Justice Department official. The official could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
___
Lemire reported from New York. Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Darlene Superville, Kevin Freking and Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.
As the country mourns and protests the murder of George Floyd, singer Solange is calling for us not to also speak up in support of Breonna Taylor, who also died at the hands of police.
“Ayo @louisvillemayor @GovAndyBeshear When the f**k are y’all going to arrest and charge Breonna Taylor’s murderers ?!?,” the entertainer tweeted Sunday. “Why are Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankinson & Myles Cosgrove still roaming freely & still being payed while y’all try to protect the blood on y’all’s hands?”
Solange Knowles attends Billboard Women In Music 2017 at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center on November 30, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
She joins the chorus of voices who believe Governor Andy Beshear has swept the incident under the rug and covered up the crimes of the officers who fatally shot Taylor in March. Taylor, an EMT, was shot eight times by police in a “no-knock” raid while she slept in her apartment.
Ayo @louisvillemayor@GovAndyBeshear When the fuck are y’all going to arrest and charge Breonna Taylor’s murderers ?!?
Why are Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankinson & Myles Cosgrove still roaming freely & still being payed while y’all try to protect the blood on y’all’s hands?
As we previously reported, Friday, Roc Nation, which was founded by brother-in-law Jay Z, hosted a virtual press conference with the attorneys of Taylor, Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery to demand justice.
Civil rights attorneys Lee Merritt and Benjamin L. Crump were joined by CNN commentator Van Jones on Facebook Friday to share their expectations in the wake of the back to back tragedies.
They have called for the intervention of Congress to hold hearings and the creation of a national task force with the aim of police accountability and ending racial violence.
“We’re devastated about the senseless violence that has broken the hearts of our families,” the families said in a joint statement.
“While we are grateful for the outpouring of love and support, it’s important that now – more than ever – we use our voices to enact change, demand accountability within our justice system and keep the legacies of Breonna, Ahmaud and George alive. This is a national crisis and our government needs to take immediate and widespread action to protect our Black and brown communities.”
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