California Couple Who Defaced Black Lives Matter Mural Charged with Hate Crimes
In California, two Bay Area residents will be charged with hate crimes after they painted over a Black Lives Matter mural commissioned by the city of Martinez. Video of the Fourth of July incident shows a white woman using a bucket of black paint and a roller to cover two of the mural’s large yellow letters reading “Black Lives Matter.” A white man wearing a red Trump campaign T-shirt and hat looks on, shouting abuse at onlookers.
David Nelson: “This is racism, is what it is. That’s what it is. There is no oppression. There is no racism. It’s a leftist lie.”
Nicole Anderson: “Keep this [bleep] in [bleep] New York! This is not happening in my town!”
If convicted on hate crimes charges, the vandals, Nicole Anderson and David Nelson, could face up to a year in jail. Meanwhile, authorities are investigating who painted the words “White Lives Matter” on a Martinez street three days after the first incident.
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Autopsy Finds L.A. Sheriff’s Deputies Shot Andrés Guardado in the Back 5 Times
In Los Angeles, results from an independent autopsy show 18-year-old security guard Andrés Guardado was shot five times in the back by an L.A. County sheriff’s deputy last month, in a police killing that’s sparked mass protests. Guardado’s family commissioned the autopsy after the Sheriff’s Office placed a so-called security hold on the L.A. County coroner’s official report on the June 18 police killing.
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Minneapolis Police Bodycam Transcripts Reveal George Floyd’s Dying Words
In Minnesota, transcripts of police bodycam footage made public Wednesday show George Floyd pleaded for his life repeatedly as officers pinned him to the ground on a South Minneapolis street corner in May. The transcripts reveal Floyd said “I can’t breathe” more than 20 times as officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee to his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. At one point, Floyd said, “You’re going to kill me, man,” to which officer Chauvin replied, “Then stop talking, stop yelling. It takes heck of a lot of oxygen to talk.” Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder, and three other officers face charges of aiding and abetting murder.
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Tucker Carlson Echoes White Nationalists in Attack on Lawmakers of Color
In media news, Fox News host Tucker Carlson is under fire over racist attacks on Senator Tammy Duckworth and Congressmember Ilhan Omar, using language that echoes a popular white nationalist slogan. During a segment Tuesday attacking the two women lawmakers of color over their alleged lack of patriotism, Carlson’s producers broadcast a graphic reading “We have to fight to preserve our nation & heritage.” Critics have compared that to an infamous “14-word” slogan frequently used by white nationalists and neo-Nazis.
Senator Tammy Duckworth is an Army National Guard veteran who lost both her legs in 2004 after the helicopter she was piloting was shot down by Iraqi fighters. She tweeted, “Does @TuckerCarlson want to walk a mile in my legs and then tell me whether or not I love America?”
Carlson joined prominent Republicans this week in attacking Congressmember Omar, who is Somali American, after she called for the “dismantling” of systems of oppression in the United States.
Rep. Ilhan Omar: “As long as our economy and political systems prioritize profit without considering who is profiting, who is being shut out, we will perpetuate this inequality. So we cannot stop at criminal justice system. We must begin the work of dismantling the whole system of oppression wherever we find it.”
Following those remarks, Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy accused Congressmember Omar and Democrats of seeking to “tear down” America. Omar responded, “It is telling that a black woman discussing systematic oppression is so triggering to the right.”