Commentary

Opinion: The Signs Say Black Lives Matter. Yet the Very People Who Are Supposed to Protect Us too Often, in too Many Places, Don’t Seem to Agree.

[George] Floyd’s murder sparked peaceful demonstrations in cities across the country, demonstrations that, in Minneapolis and a few other places, turned toward riots. Chauvin and his co-conspirators weren’t immediately arrested for the murder. Had Floyd, an African American, done this to a white person, he likely would have been jailed immediately, with a bond too high to reach.

Published

6 years ago

June 11, 2020

Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.

May 29, Oakland. Photo by Saskia Hatvany.

The murder of George Floyd was a lynching in broad daylight.

Three police officers stood and watched as a fourth, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd’s neck. They watched for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, with Floyd unresponsive for 2 minutes and 53 seconds of that, according to the criminal complaint against Chauvin. They did nothing to stop the murder.

Their silence was as much an act of violence as Chauvin’s knee. And if there were no video recording of the murder, they likely would have upheld the Code Blue loyalty, and lied about what happened.

Floyd’s murder sparked peaceful demonstrations in cities across the country, demonstrations that, in Minneapolis and a few other places, turned toward riots. Chauvin and his co-conspirators weren’t immediately arrested for the murder. Had Floyd, an African American, done this to a white person, he likely would have been jailed immediately, with a bond too high to reach.

For too long, for too often, African Americans have been brutalized without consequence. Floyd’s plea for mercy — “I can’t breathe” — was an echo of Eric Garner’s last words. Laquan McDonald, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, too often the killers walk free. The signs say Black Lives Matter. Yet the very people who are supposed to protect us too often, in too many places, don’t seem to agree.

Instead of accountability, police have been given impunity. There were 17 complaints filed against Chauvin in his 19 years on the force. Only one resulted in even a reprimand.

Too few of the police live in the communities they patrol. Too many see themselves as enforcers, not protectors. There are only a few bad apples, we are told. But the Code Blue wall of silence protects the abusers, and too often rots the entire barrel. Young officers learn that if they want to advance, if they want better assignments, better pay, more security, they have to fit in. And the rot keeps spreading.

The demonstrations are necessary. The rioting understandable but regrettable. Already, the damage done to property, the exchanges with the police becomes the subject, not the agenda that is necessary to focus on the outbreaks of rage that are inevitable.

“In the final analysis, the riot is the language of the unheard,” Dr. King taught us, “What is it that America has failed to hear?”

In the last years of the Obama administration, peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrations occurred in cities across the country. In a stunning display of discipline and self-control, demonstrators protested police brutality and murders peacefully, shutting down major thoroughfares.

The Obama administration began an effort to encourage police reform. The sentence disparities between crack and cocaine — the “black” drug and the “white drug” — were reduced. Transfers of military weaponry to police forces were restricted. The Obama Justice Department entered into a series of consent decrees with more than a dozen police departments to encourage them to change their practices — to become more a guardian than an occupier. The consent decrees couldn’t root out racism, or dismiss the sadistic or the disturbed, but they could encourage a change in tactics, and perhaps in attitudes.

When Trump was elected, he immediately torpedoed the reforms, and terminated the consent decrees. He reopened the spigot on military weaponry and encouraged the police directly to get tough with offenders.

Last October, Bob Kroll, the president of the Minneapolis Police Union, appeared at a Trump rally to celebrate the president for freeing the police from the mild reforms of the Obama years. “The Obama administration and the handcuffing and oppression of police was despicable,” he told the crowd. “The first thing President Trump did when he took office was turn that around, letting the cops do their job, put the handcuffs on the criminals instead of us.”

Those trumpeting law and order offer African Americans neither.

Those peaceful protests were met with harsh reaction. The voices were not heard. And now, Minneapolis is in flames and the streets of America’s cities are filled with protesters.

What America has failed to hear — decade after decade — is the demand for equal justice under the law, the demand for equal opportunity, the call for basic rights — not only for African Americans but for all — the rights to a livable wage, decent housing, health care, a safe environment, a protective, not a dangerous police force. The suffering is real; the gap documented over and over, most recently as poverty, hunger and illness makes African Americans disproportionately the victims of the coronavirus.

This isn’t complicated. The solutions are known. From the Kerner Commission in 1968 on, the analyses have been done; the needed reforms detailed — and shelved. There is money enough for top-end tax cuts, for bailing out banks and CEOs, for waging endless wars across the world. There is never enough money to fund the gap.

And so the anger and frustration build, kindling ready to ignite. And time after time, an act of outrageous police brutality sets the kindling aflame.

The demonstrators are showing courage. We’ve also seen, in a few cities, police leaders show real leadership and wisdom. I pray that all also show caution. We demonstrate not only against the threat of Code Blue, but in the time of COVID-19. Masks, social distancing, care for one another are vital so the demonstrations for life don’t end up sacrificing lives to the virus.

In the midst of a pandemic, some march in the hope that America will listen. Some march without hope but because silence is no longer acceptable. Yes, Minneapolis needs to charge, try and convict the murderer and his accomplices. Yes, the Minneapolis police force needs to cleanse itself, inside and out. America too needs to listen and to change. We will come together, or we will surely come apart.

Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.

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Black History

Oakland Protesters Rally to Defend Haitian Immigrants and TPS

The Haiti Action Committee traces its roots to the international movement that emerged following Haiti’s 1991 military coup, which overthrew the nation’s first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Political violence sent thousands of Haitians fleeing the country, while U.S. policies resulted in refugees being intercepted at sea, repatriated, or detained at Guantanamo Bay.

Published

14 hours ago

August 20, 2026

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Activists Gerald Smith and Romaine Charite at 14th and Broadway in downtown Oakland near City Hall protest in support of Haitian immigrant rights. Photo by Carla Thomas

By Carla Thomas

Protesters gathered in downtown Oakland near City Hall at 14th Street and Broadway on Thursday, Aug. 13, calling for protections for Haitian immigrants and an end to deportation policies affecting Haitian communities across the United States.

Organized as a call to action by the Legalization for All Network and supported by the Haiti Action Committee and other community organizations, the demonstration carried a clear message: “Defend TPS! Legalization, Not Deportation!”

Participants focused attention on the termination of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Haiti and immigration policies protesters described as continuing attacks on Haitian immigrants under the Trump administration.

Haitian Romaine Charite of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization urged demonstrators to stand with Haitian families and led chants:

“When Haitians are under attack, what do we do? We fight back.”

Injustice to one is an injustice to us all.”

“Dump Trump!”

Charite and other protesters condemned the federal government’s treatment of Haitian immigrants, describing the policies as an attack on a population already facing extraordinary hardship.

Haiti’s TPS designation was terminated effective July 27, 2026, removing temporary deportation protections and work authorization for hundreds of thousands of Haitian beneficiaries who lacked another legal basis to remain in the United States.

Gerald Smith, a protester and former member of the Black Panther Party during the 1970s, said Haitians were being unfairly targeted and warned that ending TPS would have a devastating impact on Haitian families and communities.

“These policies are racially motivated and unfair,” Smith said. “Everyone deserves the right to self-determination and protection from persecution.”

The Haiti Action Committee cited the continuing political, economic and humanitarian crisis in Haiti as evidence that returning large numbers of immigrants to the country could place already vulnerable people at greater risk.

The Oakland gathering, which drew about 20 participants, reflected a decades-long history of Bay Area activism surrounding Haitian democracy, refugee rights and U.S. immigration policy.

Those policies sparked protests involving Haitian communities, Black activists, artists, college students, churches, labor organizations and human rights advocates. Prominent figures, including dancer and activist Katherine Dunham, tennis champion Arthur Ashe, and TransAfrica leader Randall Robinson, joined campaigns challenging the treatment of Haitian refugees.

In 1992, Haiti Action Committee joined other Bay Area organizations in a dramatic demonstration on San Francisco Bay. Boats carrying Haitian participants were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard while supporters gathered along the waterfront and reportedly chanted, “Let Them Land!”

More than three decades later, protesters have returned to the streets of Oakland, centering on protecting Haitian immigrants, opposing deportation and pressing for immigration policies that provide families with a pathway toward permanent legal residency.

For more information, visit Haitisolidarity.net.

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Commentary

From Palestine to Oakland: Seeds for Liberation Examines Shared Struggles for Freedom

The screening was hosted by the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America and the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation. Following the film, director Matthew Solomon joined local community leaders for a discussion about solidarity, resistance, and the historical connections explored throughout the documentary.

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14 hours ago

August 20, 2026

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Documentary film, "Seeds for Liberation," highlights the Palestinian struggle and the shared fight for freedom and liberation in the United States and abroad. Graphic courtesy of www.seedsforliberationmovie.com

By Carla Thomas

Community members gathered at the Black Panther Party Museum on Saturday, Aug. 15, in downtown Oakland for a screening of “Seeds for Liberation,” an award-winning documentary examining the Palestinian liberation movement and its connections to Black, Chicano and other movements for collective liberation.

The film reveals the face of conflict, struggle, and injustice today and yesterday. In one scene, a bleeding child pleads for help on a shell-shattered rooftop after a bombing in the Gaza Strip last year. In another scene, newly freed Nelson Mandela addresses thousands at the Oakland Coliseum in 1990, at the end of apartheid.

Directed by Solomon and executive-produced by Donna Hadjikhani and Alana Hadid, “Seeds for Liberation” situates Palestinian experiences within the broader history of anti-imperialist and decolonial movements.

Through interviews with historians, legal scholars, activists and organizers, the documentary examines Palestinian resistance. It also details the role of social media in shaping the public’s understanding of the impact of Palestine’s 77-year occupation by Israeli forces, events in Gaza and the West Bank, and relationships between liberation movements across generations and geographic boundaries.

The film includes perspectives of people connected to the Black Liberation Army, La Raza Unida and the Stop Cop City movement. Those featured talk about colonialism, U.S. foreign policy, policing, racial justice and their views of what solidarity with Palestinians has meant.

Solomon developed the documentary following his previous film, “Reimagining Safety,” which explored alternatives to traditional policing.

“I use film as a medium to connect personal testimony with larger social and political questions,” said Solomon, who is currently touring the film across the nation as well as Canada and other countries.

Executive producer Hadjikhani brought a personal connection to the project. An Iranian American designer and social justice advocate, she traveled to Gaza and the West Bank as a college student in 1993 during the First Intifada. Hadid has since focused on Palestinian stories and other underrepresented voices.

The Oakland screening carried added historical significance because it was held in the Black Panther Party Museum, where the history of Black resistance and community organizing provided a backdrop for the film’s examination of interconnected struggles.

Activist and artist Cat Brooks passionately spoke about the fight for the freedom of all people. “No one is free until everyone is free,” she said.

Brooks played a key role in the struggle for justice for Oscar Grant, who was gunned down by a BART police officer in 2009 and is co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP), whose mission is to rapidly respond to and ultimately eradicate state violence in communities of color.

Rather than treating liberation movements as isolated chapters, “Seeds for Liberation” asks audiences to consider how movements separated by time, race and geography have influenced one another and how solidarity has continued to evolve across generations.

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Black History

NABJ Convention Brings Black Journalists, Civic Leaders Together in Atlanta

Among the conference’s most closely watched sessions was Thursday’s Newsmaker Plenary, where House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries discussed the national political climate with NABJ President Errin Haines. Journalist Joy-Ann Reid later led a fireside conversation with legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, creator of the term “intersectionality,” and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of the 1619 Project.

Published

14 hours ago

August 20, 2026

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Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump (left), House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (middle), Rev. Al Sharpton (right) stand at the NABJ conference in Atlanta on Aug. 13 with Elmore and Christine Wonsley, the parents of Nolan Wells, a Black 18-year-old who died July 4th weekend in Mississippi

By Brandon Patterson

ATLANTA—The 52nd National Association of Black Journalists conference brought thousands of journalists, students, media executives and civic leaders to Atlanta Aug. 12-16 for its 2026 Convention and Career Fair, a five-day gathering centered on the theme “Our Revolution: Truth, Power and Black Journalism.”

The plenary also turned toward grief, accountability and justice as the parents of 18-year-old Nolan Wells, Christine Wells-Wonsley and Elmore Wonsley, appeared with civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the Rev. Al Sharpton. Crump was also the attorney for Trayvon Martin’s, Michael Brown’s, and Tamir Rice’s families. Moderated by journalist Tiffany Cross, the Wells family’s appearance focused on unanswered questions surrounding Nolan’s July death in Mississippi and calls for a federal review.

Reid and journalist Don Lemon also joined a separate discussion with Cross, columnist Michael Harriot and journalist Chandra Whitfield about career disruption, resilience and building independent platforms as Black journalists face layoffs and wider media industry upheaval.

Across generations, attendees exchanged ideas about sustaining careers and serving Black communities.

The gathering reflected NABJ’s long-standing role as both professional home and public forum for Black journalists. For Black-owned legacy newspapers, including ours, the Atlanta convention reinforced a familiar mandate: defend truth, elevate Black voices and connect national debates over politics, justice and media power to the communities most affected.