Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Mississippi: Local Groups offer financial aid to black businesses shunned by federal stimulus

    June 24, 2020 |

    Black Star News |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United States, Mississippi

    Black businesses in Mississippi are receiving a financial boost from a nonprofit that seeks to level the playing field for rural African-Americans in the state who have historically been overlooked when it comes to federal aid. Higher Purpose Co is a black-led economic justice nonprofit that has raised $400,000 for entrepreneurs and has received over 2,500 applicants. The nonprofit has given up to $5,000 to small businesses with 20 or fewer employees.

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  • 9 Departments and Multiple Infractions for One New Jersey Police Officer

    June 24, 2020 |

    The New York Times |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Woodlynne, New Jersey

    New Jersey’s responses to police misconduct offer stark lessons in how certain failures can allow troubled officers to hop from job to job undetected. The state lacks a central database of police misconduct and remains one of only five states that cannot revoke an officer’s credentials because of performance. In one case, an officer with serial failures at nine departments, involving 16 incidents in which people he arrested got injured, the red flags that should have been raised never were, allowing him to mistreat residents of majority-Black neighborhoods despite a record indicating racism and brutality.

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  • In Germany, Confronting Shameful Legacy Is Essential Part of Police Training

    June 23, 2020 |

    The New York Times |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Germany

    To prevent its police forces from ever again being turned into militarized and politicized tools of an authoritarian state, Germany requires all police trainees to visit former Nazi concentration camps and learn in detail how the Nazi regime used police as a tool. Though the historical comparisons to American policing of racial minorities is not equivalent, the explicit effort to break from a shameful past as a mode of cultural change is instructive. Other reforms include strict separation of police and military and a decentralized structure to keep unchecked power out of the hands of a single agency.

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  • Mural project brought Black voices to a shuttered State Street

    June 23, 2020 |

    Wisconsin Watch |

    Photojournalism |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Madison, Wisconsin

    A “rapid response” mural project transformed shuttered storefronts with vibrant messages of pride, perseverance, anger, justice, and unity. The project was funded by Arts in Public Places Looking Forward, a new organized formed to support artists impacted by Covid-19. An open call was posted for interested artists, and the project prioritized artists who had been affected by racial violence and injustice. More than 100 commissioned murals, and many more works of graffiti and public art, focused on support for the Black Lives Matter movement or called on an end to police misconduct.

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  • Minneapolis theater community uses stagecraft skills to support businesses of color in the aftermath of protests

    June 23, 2020 |

    CNN |

    Multi-Media |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

    University Rebuild brings together theater members in Minneapolis who are not working due to Covid-19 to use their skills in support of the Black Lives Matters movement by helping communities clean up, make repairs, and create infrastructure to gather safely. Volunteers, numbering more than 100 within the first week, used set design and construction skills to help around 200 businesses impacted by protests following the killing of George Floyd. Windows and doors are boarded up and then prepped for murals painted by local artists and leftover materials were used to build stages for Juneteenth celebrations.

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  • In Seattle, Protests Over Racial Equity Turn to Land Ownership

    June 23, 2020 |

    Bloomberg CityLab |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

    Over 1000 community members gathered to demand officials keep a 2016 promise to give a vacant publicly-owned fire station to the Africatown Community Land Trust. The station is in a historically Black and quickly gentrifying neighborhood and the trust wants to turn it into a resource center to develop the next generation of Black entrepreneurs. As citywide protests for racial equality spread, the city abruptly agreed to turn it over. The group also wants more unused properties turned over to Black community ownership and for the city to develop an anti-gentrification land acquisition fund.

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  • Defund police? Some cities have already started, investing in mental health instead

    June 22, 2020 |

    USA Today |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

    Less than one month into its use of a crisis intervention team to handle mental health calls in place of the police, Denver’s one-year STAR pilot project has been flooded with calls and already has achieved success in cases where police presence could have been a hindrance. Like many cities modeling new programs on the successful, long-running CAHOOTS program in Eugene, Oregon, Denver is making “defund the police” a reality with investments in mental health services. Empathic dialog in place of a police presence can lead to peaceful outcomes for people of color afraid of police.

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  • How 12 Teens Who'd Never Met Before Organized Honolulu's Black Lives Matter Protest

    June 22, 2020 |

    Honolulu Civil Beat |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Honolulu, Hawaii

    Twelve Honolulu high school students, who had only ever met online, used social media to organize a Black Lives Matter protest that drew over 10,000 people. The teens used online forums to communicate about their goals for the protest and also to provide details to the public regarding the march's route, reminders to wear masks, remain peaceful, and abide by city laws. The teens also enlisted the support of established organizations to provide volunteers and bring hand sanitizer, water bottles, face masks, and bullhorns. The result was an entirely peaceful and emotionally stirring protest march and rally.

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  • Canada's largest school district ended its police program. Now Toronto may be an example for U.S. districts considering the same.

    June 19, 2020 |

    Chalkbeat National |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Canada, Toronto, Ontario

    Prompted by Black Lives Matter protesters and informed by a controversial survey of high school students on their feelings about having police stationed in their schools, Toronto pulled police from its schools in 2017 and since then has refuted warnings of a spike in misbehavior and crime. While arrest numbers and data on students’ current feelings about safety are unknown, Canada’s largest school system at least proved that it could address unhappiness with a police presence without decreasing safety.

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  • Can Floyd protests break cycles of police brutality and racial unrest? History has lessons.

    June 19, 2020 |

    The Christian Science Monitor |

    Video |

    5-15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States

    Just as the Emmett Till murder helped inspire protests in the civil rights era, which in turn led to the passage of civil rights and voting rights legislation, the protests over policing in 2020 already have sparked reforms and could lead to even more dramatic social changes. Policing and racial inequity often lie at the root of protests, past and present. The question is whether the predominant focus will be on riots and violence or on the underlying grievances that concern public policy.

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