2021-04-24: News Headlines

Arab News (2021-04-25). Lebanon Vows To Punish Drug Smugglers As Saudi Import Ban Bites. eurasiareview.com By Najia Houssari | Lebanon has vowed to punish drug smugglers after massive quantities of narcotics were intercepted and seized by Saudi Arabia and Greece. | Saudi authorities on Friday reported foiling an attempt to smuggle millions of amphetamine pills stashed in a pomegranate shipment from Lebanon at Dammam's King Abdulaziz Port. It said that five people involved in the case were arrested, four citizens and an expatriate. | There was another interception of a pomegranate shipment, also from Lebanon and also containing drugs, in Jeddah. | Shortly after the Saudi statement, Greek authorities announced seizin…

Staff (2021-04-24). Sanders and Warren Call on Biden to Reverse Trump Era Vaccine Apartheid. truthout.org President Biden is coming under mounting pressure at home and abroad to reverse a Trump-era policy and publicly support a temporary waiver on international patent rights for COVID vaccines and treatments that would allow countries around the world to manufacture lifesaving doses domestically. | Big Pharma opposes the trade protections waiver, but global health advocates, congressional Democrats and leaders across the world say the waiver is necessary address massive inequities in vaccine distribut…

Dave Lindorff (2021-04-24). Children of color appear to be fair game for too many cops: No More Police Killings of Kids! warisacrime.org By Dave Lindorff The latest police murder — and that's what it was whatever the circumstances — of 16-old foster child Ma'Khia Bryant by a Columbus, Ohio cop, is sickening to watch. No way did that officer, Nicholas Reardon, have to kill that young teenage girl. Maybe she had a knife, and maybe she was …

Noah Roberts (2021-04-24). Justice for Roger Allen: Black man shot and killed by police in Daly City, California. liberationnews.org Roger Allen's family deserves justice.

Staff (2021-04-24). Minnesota Workers Took on the National Guard to Defend Black Lives. truthout.org On Sunday, April 11, a cop pulled Daunte Wright over for air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror and expired tags. Then she murdered him, saying she couldn't tell her gun from her taser. The killing happened 20 minutes down the road from where Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck. | Protests have erupted night after night since then, in Brooklyn Center where Wright was murdered and beyond. The repression by the mayor and governor has been savage. On Friday the 16th, for e…

Prabir Purkayastha (2021-04-24). The West Is Practicing Vaccine Apartheid at a Global Level. zcomm.org For rich countries, the billions of dollars of vaccine market for Big Pharma far outweigh the benefits of saving millions of lives…

Bette Lee (2021-04-24). Chauvin's Conviction is Far From Justice. zcomm.org There is no justice as long as Black, brown and people of color are deprived of their humanity and access to decent jobs, housing, education and health care…

Another Black Man Killed by Police (2021-04-24). Justice for Roger Allen! Protest in Daly City. indybay.org On April 15, in the San Francisco suburb of Daly City, dozens of demonstrators gathered to protest the shooting of Roger Allen by police.

WSWS (2021-04-24). Families impacted by police violence gather at funeral for Daunte Wright. wsws.org Wright's funeral was characterized by a contradiction between the genuine pain of families and friends on the one hand and…

Fight Back (2021-04-23). Justice for Adam Toledo car caravan protest in Minneapolis. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – On April 18, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), Los Brown Berets, Asamblea de Derechos Civiles and other groups organized a protest and car caravan to demand justice for Adam Toledo, a 13-year-old Mexican-American who was murdered by the Chicago Police Department. The video footage of the murder was recently released, sparking a wave of protests in Chicago and around the country. | Protesters gathered on Lake Street to decorate their cars with signs, crosses and flags in honor of Adam Toledo. The protest began at the statue of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata at Lake…

Paul Street (2021-04-23). Slaves to the Constitution. counterpunch.org Slavery lives on in U.S.-American life, crippling "our" supposed grand "democracy" in numerous ways. The massive wealth, income, and health gaps between Black and white Americans and the related persistent segregation and mass arrest and incarceration of Black Americans cannot be properly understood without reference to the two and a half centuries in which Black

Jeffrey St. Clair (2021-04-23). Roaming Charges: The Eyes of Derek Chauvin. counterpunch.org I've watched all of the footage of George Floyd's murder. I've seen the crime from every angle. From body cameras and cellphones. I've looked at hundreds of still photos. I've listened to the audio dozens of times. Still, I cringe, horrified by the scene taking place before my eyes, even though I know how it will end, know every twitch of Floyd's body, hear every desperate plea, each gasp for air.

_____ (2021-04-23). Scheer Intelligence: 'When We Fight, We Win'. popularresistance.org As the world awaited the fate of Derek Chauvin—the Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of killing George Floyd—Black Lives Matter co-founder Melina Abdullah joined Robert Scheer on "Scheer Intelligence" to discuss what he calls the most successful social justice movement the country has perhaps ever seen. In the timely episode, Abdullah, a lifelong activist and California State University, Los Angeles professor, traces the roots of the BLM movement back to 2013 and notes that Floyd's killing was the moment the "world was cracked wide open" for everyone to see the deep-seated systemic racism a…

Moderator (2021-04-23). Black Lives Matter: "When We Fight, We Win" scheerpost.com Photo courtesy of Melina Abdullah and SpeakOutNow] Click to subscribe on: Apple / Spotify / Google Play As the world awaited the fate of Derek Chauvin—the Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of killing George Floyd—Black Lives Matter co-founder Melina Abdullah joined Robert Scheer on "Scheer Intelligence" to discuss what he calls the most successful social justice movement the country has… |

Staff (2021-04-23). He refused to follow a cop's illegal order and police have made his life hell ever since. therealnews.com Police demanded that a visually impaired passenger show them his identification, even though he was just sitting in a car. His refusal led to probation, monitoring, a $50,000 bail, and a relentless legal battle. But at the root of this story is the question of police power: how they wield it and why we grant it to them.

Ipek S. Burnett (2021-04-23). The Token Verdict. counterpunch.org It is Tuesday, April 20th, 4: 10 pm CT. Hennepin County Courthouse, Minneapolis. The doors open. Judge Peter Cahill gets seated and speaks, "Members of the Jury, I understand you have a verdict." Former police officer Derek Chauvin's eyes are darting. The judge reads the verdict. Second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter: Guilty on all counts. One by

Bette Lee (2021-04-23). Chauvin's Conviction is Far From Justice. counterpunch.org In a rare moment in US history, a racist white cop, Derek Chauvin, has been convicted on April 20th of murdering an unarmed Black man, George Floyd. If this is a "turning point" for America, it was a long time coming. It took hundreds of years of resistance and resilience to get here. It took 250

Staff (2021-04-23). "He's Going to Be So Missed": Funeral Held for Police Shooting Victim Daunte Wright in Minneapolis. democracynow.org Mourners gathered in Minnesota Thursday for the funeral of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was shot dead by a white police officer during a traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center. Daunte's mother, Katie Wright, fought back tears as she remembered her son. "When he walked in the room, he lit up the room. He was a brother, a jokester, and he was loved by so many. He's going to be so missed." We air excerpts of Wright's funeral service.

claudia (2021-04-23). Your National Political Committee newsletter — Born from Struggle. dsausa.org Enjoy your April National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected eighteen-person body (including two YDSA members who share a vote) which functions as the board of directors of DSA. Read on for more! From the National Political Committee NPC Statements — Chauvin Verdict, Daunte Wright, Justice for Trans People NPC Steering Committee…

Prabir Purkayastha (2021-04-23). The West is Practicing Vaccine Apartheid at a Global Level. counterpunch.org More than an eighth of the world's population living in rich countries—the United States, Canada, the UK, and the EU—have access to more than 50 percent of the world's vaccine doses. According to Our World in Data, about 112 million people in the United States alone received at least a single vaccine jab by April

Danaka Katovich, Ariel Gold (2021-04-23). Can a Formula 1 Star Send a Message to the Saudi Government? counterpunch.org For human rights advocates who also enjoy the sport of car racing, a great opportunity awaits us. Lewis Hamilton, the only Black driver in the history of Formula 1 racing, has been bravely and consistently supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. In the wake of the protests against the murders of George Floyd and Breonna

Fight Back (2021-04-23). Utahn's March for further action against police violence. fightbacknews.org Salt Lake City, UT – On April 20, about three hours after killer cop Derek Chauvin's triple guilty verdict, hundreds of people gathered, relieved to hear the verdict and motivated to demand further action in combating police crimes. Marching in solidarity with Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, and many other cities around the country, the people of Salt Lake City demanded further action and accountability for the entire policing system that terrorizes our communities. | Starting from the Salt Lake Public Safety Building and marching to the Victims of Police Brutality murals, a community memorial depicting many o…

_____ (2021-04-23). 'Justice Looks Like Abolition'. popularresistance.org On Tuesday, April 20, jurors in Minnesota found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of all charges brought forward for the death of George Floyd: second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Chauvin's bail was also immediately revoked and he was taken into custody after the verdict was read. | The guilty verdicts represent a strong departure from the legal norm: between 2005 and 2019, only four police officers had been found guilty of murder in the United States, while an estimated 1,000 people have been shot and killed by cops every year since 2015. A breakdown o…

Community Before Cops (2021-04-23). It Could Happen Here — & Has Happened Here: Community Before Cops Statement on the Chauvin Verdict. indybay.org For immediate release | Salinas, California — April 20th, 2021…

Waging Nonviolence (2021-04-23). Amid Chauvin trial and more police killings, we need to stress Boycotts and the 'Noncooperation' in 'Nonviolent Noncooperation'. juancole.com By Maria J. Stephan | — ( Waging Nonviolence) — In his March 1956 sermon "When Peace Becomes Obnoxious," Martin Luther King, Jr. responded to a headline in a local Alabama newspaper that read, "Things are quiet in Tuscaloosa today. There is peace on the campus of the University of Alabama." The headline was referring …

Fight Back (2021-04-23). Tallahassee celebrates Derek Chauvin guilty verdict. fightbacknews.org Tallahassee, FL – On April 20, in less than two hours after the Derek Chauvin verdict was announced, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee gathered at Cascades Park to celebrate this win but also to reiterate the fight for Black liberation is not over. They chanted, "Indict convict, send that killer cop to jail, the whole damn system is guilty as hell." | The group played music and passed out pizza to rally attendees. | Trish Brown, stated "History has been made today. With so much wrongdoing and killings by the police throughout history with no Indictments, no convictions, no accountability – officers getti…

_____ (2021-04-23). What Police Impunity Looks Like. popularresistance.org We already know the case of former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd is an anomaly. Officers who kill civilians are rarely prosecuted, let alone convicted — many aren't even disciplined by their departments. | To understand how police impunity works, it's worth looking at another case, that of Kawaski Trawick. | Two years ago, Trawick was alone in his apartment in the Bronx when two New York City Police Department officers arrived in response to 911 calls about Trawick walking through the building with a serrated bread knife and a stick. Trawick, who had a history of mental heal…

_____ (2021-04-23). Memo to Biden: What About The Other Whistleblowers? popularresistance.org Darnella Frazier is a whistleblower. She's an important one. Few Americans will know her name, but we should all be thanking her. | Darnella is the 17-year-old who took the video of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd. That video has become the de facto official record of Floyd's death. Where would we be without it? | The Minneapolis Police Department's initial account was entitled, "Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction." It said that police had been called to a Chicago Avenue South address for a "forgery in progress," that Floyd "appeared to be under the in…

Power to the People (2021-04-23). Ex-Cop Guilty on All Counts of Murder of George Floyd. indybay.org We finally saw the power of a mass movement with a middle class jury, including 2 jurors with family connections to the police, convicting Minneapolis now ex-cop white Derek Chauvin of the murder of black George Floyd while handcuffed and face down, with Chauvin sitting on Floyd's neck with his knee for over 9 minutes, supposedly for the use of an alleged $20 counterfeit bill. The struggle continues.

Common Dreams Staff (2021-04-23). Chauvin Conviction Sparks Calls for 'True Justice'. zcomm.org "This verdict is not a substitute for policy change."

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