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Common Dreams

News & Views | 5/31/20

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Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson alongside people in Flint, Michigan demonstrating against police violence and the kiling of George Floyd in neighboring Minnesota last week. "When we reached the police station, the officers were lined up and everyone immediately took a knee," said local photographer Leni Kei Williams who documented what transpired. "The Sheriff asked one question... 'We are mad too! What can we do?' and the crowd responded, 'Join us.'" And then they did. (Photo: Leni Kei Photography / U

by Common Dreams staff
"Do I think this has solved the issue between police and unarmed black, human beings? No. But I do believe that this type of leadership is a positive step in the right direction and gives me hope for black men and women around the world and for all of humanity."

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Attorney General William Barr speaks as President Donald Trump listens during a press conference the White House on July 11, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chen Mengtong/China News Service/Visual China Group via Getty Images)

by Jon Queally, staff writer
"Let's be clear," warned the ACLU. "There is no legal authority for designating a domestic group. Any such designation would raise significant due process and First Amendment concerns."


Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks to guests during a campaign stop at Berg Middle School on January 11, 2020 in Newton, Iowa. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

by Jon Queally, staff writer
"Our most vulnerable communities are hungry, desperate and under enormous emotional stress. The American people want action from Congress and they want it NOW."


Police officers take position to shoot tear gas at the demonstrators in Downtown Los Angeles on May 30, 2020 in protest against the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died while while being arrested and pinned to the ground by the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. Clashes broke out and major cities imposed curfews as America began another night of unrest Saturday with angry demonstrators ignoring warnings from President Donald Trump that his government would stop violent protests over polic

by Jon Queally, staff writer
Driving SUVs into demonstrators. Firing paint-ball rounds at people on their own front porch. Pushing an elderly man to the ground. These were just a few of the incidents witnessed as a militarized nation faced off against its own people on Saturday.


Ronald Scott, a central neighborhood resident for more than 10 years, takes a photo of the memorial mural over flowers and banners laid in the memory of George Floyd outside of Cup Foods on May 29, 2020, during the fourth day of protests over his death in Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States. Floyd, 46, a black man, was killed Monday when a white officer kneeled on his neck, despite Floyd's repeated pleas of "I can't breathe." (Photo: Steel Brooks/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

by Jon Queally, staff writer
Instead of calls for things to simply calm down and "go back to normal," said New York Congresswoman, "let's create a new world—one where all people are held to the same standard of the rule of law."


Protesters set a police vehicle on fire during a protest following the death of George Floyd outside of the CNN Center next to Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States on May 29, 2020. It was announced Friday that Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer caught on camera with his knee on Floydâs neck, has been arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. (Photo: Ben Hendren/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

by Jon Queally, staff writer
"I thank God people are in the streets," said the Harvard philosopher and activist. "Can you imagine this kind of lynching taking place and people are indifferent? People don't care? People are callous?"


Secret Service police officers push back demonstrators outside the White House on May 30, 2020 in Washington DC, during a protest over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, who died after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes. - Demonstrations are being held across the US after George Floyd died in police custody on May 25. (Photo by Jose Luis Magana / AFP) (Photo by JOSE LUIS MAGANA/AFP via Getty Images)

by Jon Queally, staff writer
"I call upon our city and our nation to exercise great restraint even while this President continues to try to divide us," said DC Mayor Muriel E. Bowser in response to president's comments.



by Jon Queally, staff writer
"Facebook has once again failed to act against an explicit violation of its own rules and has allowed the violent and racist post to remain up."

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Following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, protest in downtown Charlotte turn violent in NC, United States on May 30, 2020 (Photo: Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II
If we want to reach a better place on the other side of this, we must refuse to be comforted too quickly.


Protesters rally in downtown San Diego against California's stay-at-home order to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, on April 18, 2020. Hundreds protested Saturday in cities across the country against coronavirus-related lockdowns—with encouragement from President Donald Trump. (Photo: Ariana Drehsler/AFP via Getty Images)

by Anna Jacobs
The Republican president is finding a way to turn the coronavirus into something that will rally his base. Can the Democrat say the same?


In this photo illustration, a Twitter logo is displayed on a mobile phone with President Trump's Twitter page shown in the background on May 27, 2020, in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

by Emily Peterson-Cassin
Here’s the social media accountability we actually need.


Demonstrators hold a protest in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Lafayette Square Park in the early morning hours of May 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. Across country, protests against Floyd's death have set off days and nights of rage as the most recent in a series of deaths of black Americans involving the police. Earlier yesterday, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was taken into custody and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

by Danielle K. Kilgo
Too often journalists contribute to a troubling hierarchy by adhering to industry norms that work against protest movements that aggressively challenge the status quo.


A protester faces off with Minnesota State Police officers on May 29, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. - Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was seen in an explosive video pressing his knee to the neck of handcuffed George Floyd for at least five minutes on May 25, was arrested earlier on May 29, said John Harrington, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. (Photo: Kerem Yucel / AFP via Getty Images)

by Robert Shetterly
To strangle George Floyd with his hands, officer Derek Chauvin would have had to look him in the face... The knee was a brutal coward's knee.


A person wears a mask that reads "I CAN'T BREATHE" as demonstrators continue to protest the death of George Floyd following a night of rioting on May 29, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Earlier today, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was taken into custody for Floyd's death. Chauvin has been accused of kneeling on Floyd's neck as Floyd pleaded with him about not being able to breathe. Floyd was pronounced dead a short while later. Chauvin and 3 other officers, who were involved in the arrest,

by Zenobia Jeffries Warfield
This epidemic of racism is more prevalent, more real, more tangible than even a virus that is taking lives seemingly overnight. When do Black people get to rest, to be safe, to breathe?

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