police brutality
Beyoncé Demands Justice for Breonna Taylor in Open Letter to Kentucky’s Attorney General
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has joined a growing chorus of outraged citizens calling for justice for Breonna Taylor. In an open letter to Kentucky’s Attorney General, the pop icon demanded that the police officers responsible “be held accountable for their actions.” In the early hours of March 13th, sergeant Jonathan Mattingly and officers Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison used a battering ram to force their way into Breonna Taylor’s Louisville home. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was asleep with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker. After the police broke down the door, Walker grabbed his gun and attempted to defend himself from the intruders. In the ensuing gunfire, the trio of Mattingly, Cosgrove, and Hankison shot Taylor at least eight times, killing her. The Louisville Metro Poli...
Lil Baby Looks at “The Bigger Picture” on New Protest Song: Stream
Lil Baby has released a new protest song called “The Bigger Picture”. The powerful offering is in response to the senseless murder of unarmed black man George Floyd, who died while in Minneapolis police custody. Today’s track begins with a news voiceover referencing Floyd and police brutality. The Atlanta rapper, who has been participating in local protests, then captures the spotlight with lines recounting the black experience in America. “They killing us for no reason/ Been going on for too long to get even,” raps Lil Baby, later adding, “Throw us in cages like dogs and hyenas… That shit be crazy, they supposed to protect us.” Despite the bleak plight of race relations in this country, the MC implores his listeners to stay strong and demand drastic change — even if it has to happen incre...
A&E Reality Cop Show ‘Live PD’ Says It Destroyed Tape of Javier Ambler’s Fatal Arrest
Before there was George Floyd, there was Javier Ambler, who also suffered eerily similar death at the hands of the Texas police back in 2019. The investigation was closed, but now it has been reopened. According to Austin American-Statesman, Ambler was headed home following a poker game on the night of March 28, 2019. The 40-year-old was stopped by a sheriff’s deputy from Williamson County after he failed to dim his lights of his Honda Pilot. According to the Statesman, Ambler was tased multiple times before he died in police custody. Before cops hit him with the taser for a final time, Ambler begged the officers to save him. “I have congestive heart failure,” Ambler pleaded “I have congestive heart failure. I can’t breathe.” The Statesman reports that approximately 28-minutes passed betwe...
Louisville Leaders Approve ‘Breonna’s Law’ Limiting No Knock Warrants #RememberHerName #BreonnaTaylor
Source: JASON CONNOLLY / Getty City officials in Louisville have unanimously passed Breonna’s Law that severely limits and monitors no-knock warrants in the city. According to local news station, WAVE3, the new proposed law, if passed by the full Metro Council, will require officers to thoroughly justify any no-knock warrant before it is reviewed by the SWAT commander and police chief. In cases where the police chief is not able to approve such a warrant, they can give anyone with at least the rank of major the power to approve the warrant. The proposal also includes a rule about body cameras that states all officers must be wearing them and must activate them at least five minutes before any warrant is executed, noting that the videos from all warrants executed will be held for ...
Old White Man Shoved By Buffalo Cops, Suddenly “They” Care About Police Brutality?
Source: Erik McGregor / Getty As protests around the nation and the world continue to crop up in support of Black lives, a scene in Buffalo, N.Y. has illustrated what Black Americans have been saying about police brutality. After an elderly white man was shoved viciously to the ground and seriously injured Thursday evening (June 4), the suddenness of action and outrage clearly depicts that more work needs to be done. As reported initially by WBFO, a protest that took place at Buffalo’s Niagara Square in front of the City Hall was ongoing shorty after a curfew went into effect. The man, identified by The Buffalo News as 75-year-old peace activist Martin Gugino, is seen on the video where he approached the officers in a non-aggressive manner and was shoved hard to the ground, hitting his hea...
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser Commissions Black Lives Matter Artwork In Front Of White House
Source: Tasos Katopodis / Getty Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is still under hood investigation after saying that she’s no fan of the city’s celebrated mumbo sauce condiment but a new gesture might gain her favor. Mayor Bowser signed off on renaming a portion of the street in front of the White House along with artwork that sends a very clear message to President Donald Trump. The Washington Post reports that earlier Friday morning (June 5), Bowser looked on as protestors gathered at the corner section of 16th Street and H Street in Washington’s Northwest section, renaming the street Black Lives Matter Plaza. The action coincides with artist Rose Jaffe‘s Black Lives Matter piece that stretches along 16th Street for two blocks in bright yellow letters. Mayor Bowser hasn’t said ...
Killer Mike Delivers a History Lesson and Assigns White America Homework on Colbert: Watch
After a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd, America erupted. Police clashed with protestors, cities imposed curfews, largely peaceful demonstrations spilled over into vandalism, looting, and arson, and white nationalists impersonated legitimate activists to sow distrust and chaos. In the midst of generational turmoil, the rapper Killer Mike delivered a powerful speech that balanced historical awareness, community love, and a rage that threatened to become all-consuming. By speaking directly to his Atlanta neighbors, he gave voice to Americans everywhere. And now that his words have gone viral, the artist born Michael Render is using his heightened platform to push that message forward. On Monday, June 1st, Killer Mike called into the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert&nb...
Krist Novoselic Praises Trump for “Strong and Direct” Law and Order Speech
On Monday afternoon, Donald Trump emerged from his underground bunker and made his first public comments on the death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests filling city streets. Well, sort of. Trump only made a passing reference to Floyd’s death, and he failed to mention police brutality, institutional racism, and other societal issues that have allowed such tragedies to become commonplace in America. Instead, Trump threatened to illegally unleash the United States Military on American citizens. Then, after police gassed peaceful protestors, Trump walked to a nearby church for a bizarre photo shoot. The whole thing was one of the more disturbing moments in the three-and-a-half year history of Trump’s presidency, which is really saying something. But there’s at least one person w...
Terrace Martin, Kamasi Washington, and Denzel Curry Throw It Down on New Protest Song “PIG FEET”: Stream
Terrace Martin, Kamasi Washington (Debi Del Grande), and Denzel Curry (Cat Miller) Protests are sweeping the nation from coast to coast following the murder of George Floyd, who died while in Minneapolis police custody last week. To express their own rage over police brutality, and the systemic racism in America that allows it, Terrace Martin, Kamasi Washington, and Denzel Curry have joined forces on a new single called “PIG FEET”. Producer Martin and saxophonist Washington deliver arrangements of frenetic, and sometimes clashing, jazz to mirror the present-day chaos of this country. Curry, meanwhile, recounts a tale too often told by young blacks. “Helicopters over my balcony/ If the police can’t harass, they wanna smoke every ounce of me,” the Florida-bred MC says. “You tell me life’s a ...
Anonymous Hacks Chicago Police Scanners to Play N.W.A.’s “Fuck Tha Police”
N.W.A. As the protests over George Floyd’s death and normalized police brutality continue into a new week, we’ve seen everything from celebrities marching in the streets to tone-deaf remixes of Martin Luther King Jr. speeches. Over the weekend, the notorious hacker group Anonymous joined the fray by tapping into Chicago Police Department’s radios and playing N.W.A.’s “Fuck Tha Police”. This past Saturday, the notorious hacker group returned to social media to announce their solidarity with the protestors fighting racism and corruption in the US. “If the police can’t restrain themselves and are shooting reporters, kicking protesters, punching protesters, and engaging in violence — how can anyone expect the people to restrain themselves? People are done being brutalised and murdered,” they t...
Beyoncé and Rihanna Address Death of George Floyd: “We Cannot Normalize This Pain”
Beyoncé and Rihanna have both issued statements regarding the death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests taking place in cities across the US. “We need justice for George Floyd,” Beyoncé said in a video message posted to Instagram on Friday night. “We all witnessed his murder in broad daylight. We’re broken and we’re disgusted. We cannot normalize this pain.” “I’m not only speaking to people of color. If you’re white, black, brown, or anything in-between, I’m sure you feel hopeless about the racism going on in America right now,” Beyoncé continued. “No more senseless killings of human beings. No more seeing people of color as less than human. We can no longer look away.” Beyoncé went on to encourage her fans to sign a series of petitions demanding more charges be brought against&nbs...
Billie Eilish: “If I Hear One More White Person Say ‘All Lives Matter’ … I’m Gonna Lose My Fucking Mind”
In an impassioned post on Instagram, 18-year-old pop star Billie Eilish eviscerated the All Lives Matter movement, writing, “If I hear one more white person say “aLL liVeS maTtEr” one more fucking time I’m gonna lose my fucking mind.” The message was captioned with the hashtags #blacklivesmatter and #justiceforgeorgefloyd. Like millions of Americans, Eilish was incensed after George Floyd’s killing by a white Minneapolis police officer on May 25th. Ex-officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, continuing almost three minutes after Floyd went unconscious. After Floyd died, Chauvin was subsequently fired, but only placed under arrest after several days of sustained protests. Eilish began her post by writing, “I’ve been trying to take this week to figure out a way ...
