Alabama activists say defunding police rooted in legacy of southern organizing article video image

Alabama Activists Say Defunding Police Rooted In Legacy Of Southern Organizing

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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Black freedom fighters in Alabama once changed this country.

Speaking onstage in Kelly Ingram Park on Juneteenth, Celestine Hood, a woman who witnessed radical change during the Civil Rights Movement, said Alabamians had the power to do it again.

Hood was a child in this park in May 1963, one of the young students participating in a demonstration for racial equality when Police Chief Eugene “Bull” Connor ordered attack dogs and firehoses on protesters. Images of children enduring that brutality enraged the world, sparking international support for the movement.

In May of this year, a video of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killing George Floyd, an unarmed Black man in custody for allegedly spending counterfeit money, shocked the world again. Protests erupted in big cities and rural towns, demanding an end to police and vigilante killings of Black people.

“We had dogs and firehoses,” Hood said. “You’ve got tear gas. You’ve got rubber bullets. It’s the same fight.”

The crowd of a few hundred — Black, brown and white, young and old —nodded, raised their fists.

homeless shelter: Animation showing curly-headed boy with headphones

Washington State Young Adults Often End Up Homeless After Leaving Treatment

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Speaking over breakfast at a homeless drop-in center a week after arriving at the shelter, Patrick described his situation as “futile.” In that environment, he said, you don’t have the freedom to pursue your dreams. “You’re not really living a life if you are living here,” he said.

It would be another year before he found an apartment through so-called rapid rehousing, which provides federally funded rental assistance for up to 12 months. In Washington state, thousands of children and young adults like Patrick experience homelessness soon after exiting psychiatric and substance use disorder treatment.

Abolition Park/Instagram

New York Progressive Groups Say Including Police in Events Can Counter Their Intent

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UPDATE: The image above is from an Instagram video that has been taken down. Below is the updated link to news coverage of the same march.  Watch video here

NEW YORK — As soon as he sat down, 19-year-old Elijah Green knew he was going to be arrested. When he and several others blocked the eastbound lanes of traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge on July 15, they believed they were disrupting a pro-police march. Uniformed New York Police Department officers with riot helmets quickly mobilized to disperse the small cadre of seated protesters so the march could continue unimpeded.

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Citing New Laws, NYPD, Police Unions Tell Officers to Exercise Caution When Making Arrests

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UPDATE: The original Instagram video was taken down. The updated video linked below is to a news story of the June 30, 2020, protest. Watch video below

NEW YORK — After a slew of new laws were passed in the last month aimed at reining in aggressive policing tactics, police unions in New York City are now instructing officers to wait for a supervisor or call in a specialized unit if someone is resisting arrest. In a July 1 newsletter sent to NYPD officers, the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) instructed officers to wait, saying that officers' jobs have “changed radically over the past few weeks,” citing new laws. Frustrated by an apparent lack of guidance from the city on how officers should comply, the PBA is now demanding clear legal interpretations of how officers can comply with the new laws.

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Activists Challenge NYPD Chief Over Cop Cars Hitting Protestors

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Activists in New York are challenging NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea’s account of a May 30 incident where police in Brooklyn rammed two patrol cruisers into a crowd of protestors and metal barricades, sending demonstrators flying.

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Protest Turns to Nightmare for Teens at Barclays Center

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It was his first time at a protest. Many thoughts crossed the mind of Eithan Roy, a 16-year-old boy from the Bronx, on the train ride to Brooklyn, Friday afternoon. One of them was the memory of his aunt, who went out and protested the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012 and told him about it.

Video Shows Crying Young Girl Handcuffed at New York Protest

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The young girl is weeping and terrified, surrounded by members of the New York Police Department, her hands cuffed behind her back while outraged protesters shout a mix of pleas and threats to let her go. The chaotic scene was captured on a 21-second snippet of video that was deleted from Twitter about 10 minutes after being posted.

Role of Guns Not Tracked For LGBT Community

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Today, Synthia Roy works at a tattoo parlor in Jacksonville, Fla., she does set design and makeup for horror films and recently produced her second movie.