Black Lives Matter

LOCAL AND NATIONAL LEADERS REACT TO GUILTY VERDICTS IN DEREK CHAUVIN TRIAL FOR KILLING OF GEORGE FLOYD

By Miriam Raftery

Updated with reactions from the President and Vice President

Photo, left: Screenshot via CNN, Derek Chauvin is remanded into custody after verdict
 
April 20, 2021 (San Diego’s East County) – Local social justice advocates voiced gratitude for today’s jury verdict in Minneapolis, where a jury found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all three counts (second degree murder, third degree murder, and manslaughter) in the death of George Floyd. But activists also cautioned that more action is needed to bring about reforms in policing to prevent future injustices.
 
After video of Floyd’s death under the knee of officer Chauvin on May 25, 2020 went viral on social media, protests erupted nationwide including La Mesa, Santee and El Cajon in San Diego’s East County.
 
Francine Maxwell, President of the NAACP San Diego branch, called the verdict “a step in the right direction.” In her statement, she adds, “This has taught my son today what hope looks like, that when police don’t obey the law, this is what justice looks like. This police officer, who joined a noble profession, he was not noble. He operated under the color of the law.”

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SAN DIEGO ARAB AND MUSLIM COMMUNITY COALITION HELD COMMUNITY FORUM; DISCUSSED COVID-19, BLACK LIVES, AND MISSING CENSUS CATEGORY

By Briana Gomez

October 31, 2020 (San Diego) -- The San Diego Arab and Muslim Community Coalition recently held its fourth biennial Community Forum last week. This year’s forum took place in the unprecedented zoom fashion due to COVID-19 and public health concerns.

The Coalition is comprised of 16 local organizations that deal directly with the Arab and Muslim communities (which sometimes overlap). Many of these organizations also deal with other social justice issues and are inclusive of other non-Arab, Middle Eastern minorities such as Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Kurds who have large populations in the East County suburbs.

The forum was attended by various prominent community members, including representatives of elected officials and local figures.


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BIDEN AND TRUMP VISIT KENOSHA AFTER SHOOTINGS PROMPT NEW WAVE OF PROTESTS

By Miriam Raftery
All photos by Les Brown
Photo (left): Jacob Blake Sr., August 29
 
September 3, 2020 (Kenosha, WI) – Both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden made visits this week to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where yet another controversial police shooting of a Black man and later, the shooting deaths of two protesters by an armed white teenager now facing first degree homicide, have fueled further civil unrest.
 
On August 23, 29-year-old Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a police officer. The shooting, which occurred in front of Blake’s young children, has left him paralyzed. According to the police officers’ union, officers were called out due to a domestic violence dispute involving Blake, who resisted arrest and was shot at point-blank range as he pulled open the door to enter a vehicle. Although police have said they believed Blake had a knife in the vehicle, Blake’s family says he was unarmed.

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TUESDAY PROTEST IN LA MESA STAYS PEACEFUL; MAN BRIEFLY DETAINED AFTER DISPLAYING PEPPER SPRAY AT PROTESTERS

 

Story and photos by Briana Gomez

Photo: Roger Ogden and Tasha Williamson in verbal confrontation

Updated August 16 with additional comments from Ogden.

August 12,  2020 (La Mesa) -- La Mesa police detained but later released a man with alleged ties to a racist group  during a Black Lives Matter protest on Tuesday, following a vocal confrontation with activist Tasha Williamson.  LMPD led Roger Ogden into the police station in handcuffs for reportedly displaying pepper spray during the altercation. On his blog, Ogden called Williamson a “terrorist” and called her a "liar" at the rally. Williamson denounced Ogden at the rally as a “racist clown.”  Each has denied the others claims of racism and inciting terror.  View video.

Despite verbal barbs, at the August 11 rally and an earlier protest on May 1, protesters remained non-violent. Unlike a major protest May 30 that ended in burning of buildings, rioting and looting, the only arrests at the most recent protests were of individuals accused of harassing protesters, both with ties to white nationalist or racist groups. On May 1st, as ECM reported, Ryan McAdams, who has a history of racial clashes, was arrested for battery and pepper spray possession.


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KAISER PERMANENTE TAKES NEW ACTIONS TO FIGHT RACISM AND PROMOTE EQUITY

The actions, including a $60 million joint investment with LISC and $40M in grant funds, will support over 2,000 Black-owned businesses or businesses owned by other underrepresented individuals. Kaiser’s action also addresses deeply entrenched structural racism, as well as the trauma and economic inequity it creates.

June 27, 2020 (Oakland, CA)-- Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest integrated health system, announced a series of actions – including $60 million in joint investments and $40 million in grant funding – to address systemic racism and lack of economic opportunities that have persisted for far too long and prevented communities of color, and especially Black communities, from achieving total health. This announcement comes as Kaiser Permanente deepens its 75-year commitment to equity and inclusion and sends a clear message that the organization stands with those who are fighting for equity and social justice.  View Kaiser’s Economic Opportunity Fact Sheet.

“The tragic murder of George Floyd and so many others has reverberated around the world, pushing us to demand overdue change to a status quo that keeps communities of color in the margins and holds us all back as a society,” said Greg A. Adams, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente. “As a country, this is a moment to define who we are and what we stand for. We must take strong action to stop the physical, psychological, economic and social impacts of inequity and systemic racism so that we can create healthier communities where everybody, regardless of their skin color, can feel safe and thrive.”


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PEACEFUL UNITY RALLY ROARS INTO LA MESA

By Henri Migala

Rebecca Jefferis Williamson also contributed to this report.

Photo, left, by Henri Migala: La Mesa Police Chief Walt Vasquez speaks with protesters

June 14, 2020 (La Mesa) -- Before you could see them, you could hear them.  With a rumble that made the air vibrate, over 215 motorcyclists from approximately 15 motorcycle clubs rolled into the parking lot across the street from the police station in La Mesa. The riders joined another 150 protesters who were waiting at the parking lot for what was billed as a “Unity Ride Meets Unity Protest”. 

This was the very site of the now infamous clash between La Mesa police and protesters that happened on Saturday, May 30 during the national protests over police violence prompted by the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer now charged with murder.


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LA MESA POLICE SHOT LESLIE FURCRON FOR CRYING "MURDERERS," LAWYER SAYS

By Ken and Chris Stone, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego News Association

Photo:  Leslie Furcron, a 59-year-old grandmother who was injured during a protest in front of the La Mesa Police Department, thanked her hospital caregivers but said she is still very weak and will need nursing care. Photo by Chris Stone

June 11, 2020 (La Mesa) - Leslie Furcron spoke for three minutes outside La Mesa City Hall on Wednesday — her first public remarks since being shot in the face during a La Mesa police station protest. But her lawyer said she was wounded for being heard saying “Murderers.”


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PRIDEFUL PROTEST THRIVES IN SPITE OF CLASH WITH BLACK LIVES MATTER SAN DIEGO CHAPTER

By Briana Gomez

Photo: Protesters show their support for the LGBTQ+ community wearing pride flags and holding signs inclusive of Black trans lives 

June 9, 2020 (San Diego) -- Thousands of protesters met in front of the San Diego City/County Building Saturday in spite of a very public social media post from Black Lives Matter’s San Diego chapter instructing protesters to attend its caravan event instead.


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THOUSANDS MARCH FOR JUSTICE IN SANTEE ON SUNDAY

By Miriam Raftery and Paul Kruze

Photos, left and right, by Ryan Michael Darsey

Updated June 13, 2020 with additional quotes and photos.

June 8, 2020 (Santee) – Thousands of protesters held two peaceful marches and rallies Sunday in Santee to call for an end to racism and police violence.  The first kicked off near West Hills Park and proceeded to Santee Lakes. The second convened at the YMCA and marched to the Santee Sheriff’s station on Cuyamaca Street.

The first was organized by Santee residents Tasha Cassidy and Alana Ethridge, who told Patch.com that they wanted to promote “unity and diversity” to overcome “a stigma of Santee being racist.”

Far more marchers convened at the second march which began at the YMCA and ended outside the Sheriff’s station at Cuyamaca Street and Mission Gorge. Deputies stood guard, allowing marchers to proceed saetly down the nomrally busy street throught the shopping district. Many carried placards eading "Black Lives Matter," "I Can't Breathe" and other slogans.

At the Sheriff's station, speakers included 83-year-old Richard Lawrence, who marched in Selma, Alabama in 1965 with  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 


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STANDING TOGETHER AGAINST RACISM IN SANTEE

By Henri Migala

Protesters outside Santee Town Center

June 6, 2020 (Santee) -- I received a call Saturday, June 6 advising that people protesting police brutality in the wake of the death of Mr. George Floyd were demonstrating in front of the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility in Santee in vehicles. The vehicle protest provided protection in the COVID-19 era; others stood on a street corner, most wearing masks.


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CONFRONTATIONS HEIGHTEN RACIAL TENSIONS IN SANTEE

 

Threats on social media prompt preparations for more potential clashes after violent confrontations earlier this week documented by ECM



By Miriam Raftery; ECM journalists and photographers Rebecca Jefferis Williamson, Henri Migala and Paul Kruze contributed to this report.

Photo, left by Henri Migala: Sheriff's officers cleared those on both sides of a contentious protest Monday night in Santee

 

June 5, 2020 (Santee) – Businesses in Santee including some major retailers and Wells Fargo Bank are boarded up or closed this afternoon, with a major law enforcement contingent in place after a post on social media called on marchers to “F*ck Klantee” tonight. Other posts suggest activist events may be planned over this weekend.

The posts follow several nights of conflicts and physical altercations between a group of white men who shouted racial taunts and  reportedly physically harmed several young people who claimed they were Black Lives Matter protesters, though the white men claimed they were detaining suspected looters.


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PHOTOGRAPHER HIT BY PEPPER SPRAY SHARES FRONT-LINE EXPERIENCE COVERING PROTEST IN LA MESA

 

Hear our interview with Henri Migala, aired on KNSJ radio: click here

By Henri Migala

June 4, 2020 (La Mesa) - My daughter, Rachel, a selfless and dedicated social justice advocate, told me about a demonstration in La Mesa Saturday afternoon in response to the death of George Floyd. I’ve been a responsible citizen for the past several months, self-quarantining at home in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But like many around the world, I was outraged by the senseless death of Floyd under the knee of a Minnesota police officer.  

I wanted to support the minority community by documenting this historic occasion as a photographer and as a social scientist. So I grabbed my camera and headed for the protest, never imagining the chain of events that would soon engulf the community and put La Mesa into the national news spotlight.

Audio: 


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PROTEST AGAINST POLICE VIOLENCE TURNS FIERY IN LA MESA

Update May 31, 2020: 1:15 a.m.  A curfew has been issued  by the City Manager starting at 1:30 a.m.. Shortly before midnight, Union Bank and Chase Bank in downtown La Mesa burned. The Randall Lamb historic building is on fire. More stores have been looted, including Walmart and Target at Grossmont Center and shops in  La Mesa Springs shopping center.

Emergency vehicles in flames; protesters tear gassed after armored vehicle hit with rocks and bottles

By Paul Kruze, Contributing Editor; Briana Gomez, Miriam Raftery and

 Rebecca Jefferis Williamson also contributed to this story

Photo, left by Rebecca Jefferis Williamson: Vehicle burning in La Mesa

May 30, 2020 (La Mesa) -- Multiple vehicles at La Mesa's Civic Center are in flames tonight, with looting of businesses across the downtown area.The chaos comes after several thousand  mostly peaceful demonstrators converged outside the La Mesa Police Department headquarters this afternoon to protest the killing of George Floyd, an African-American man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis. The protesters also demonstrated over an incident earlier this week in La Mesa when a man was detained near the Grossmont Transit Center that some contend was racial profiling.

Photo, right, by Paul Kruze: Protesters during earlier peaceful march

In that incident, suspect Amaurie Johnson was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer. Video on social media shows the Amaurie and the officer arguing when the officer pushes Johnson into a seated position. The officer has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. The city has also announced plans for an independent investigation. 

The protest  later resulted in confrontations, tear-gassing of some protesters and declaration of an unlawful assembly. 


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A SURJ OF AWARENESS

 

Story and photos by Byron Croft

Shooting sparks broader conversation on police-citizen relations in East County and San Diego,  facilitated by Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)

October 14, 2016 (El Cajon) -- The recent shooting of Alfred Olango in El Cajon has sparked a surge of conversation on the topic of how police handle people in some sort of mental distress, and how that handling may sometimes be different when the people police encounter happens to be with someone with skin darker than “white.” What for many, until recently, was viewed as a concern for those in larger cities, such as Chicago and New York, has now become a topic of discussion in East County, and surrounding San Diego.


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MICHAEL BROWN: A MOTHER'S GRIEF

 

Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil: The Life, Legacy, And Love of My Son Michael Brown, by Lezley McSpadden (Regan Arts, New York, NY, 2013, 254 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

Equal rights, fair play, justice are like the air; we all have it, or none of us has it. That is the truth of it.

  • Maya Angelou

August 21, 2016 (San Diego) - I feel honored and privileged to write this review of Lezley McSpadden’s book; Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil: The Life, Legacy, and Love of My Son Michael Brown. She and I actually have a lot in common, as we both were born in Missouri, me about 150 miles south of Ferguson in the bootheel, the small town of Charleston. Also, she bears a likeness to my sister Janet, also born in Charleston, mostly through their close set eyes and facial features.


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CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT RESIGNS AMID CONTROVERSY OVER POLICE KILLING OF BLACK TEEN

 

By Devoreo Bell

December 2, 2015 (Chicago) - Last week, Black Lives Matter rallies across the nation, including in San Diego, called for justice for Laquan McDonald, a black Chicago teen shot in the back repeatedly by police.


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CA DEMOCRATS PASS RESOLUTIONS ON CLIMATE CHANGE, AFFORDABLE HOUSING, BLACK LIVES MATTER AND PLANNED PARENTHOOD

 

East County News Service

August 24, 2015 (San Diego) – At the California Democratic Party’s e-board meeting last weekend in Burlingame, Chairman John Burton welcomed Tom Steyer, co-founder of NextGen Climate, who gave a riveting speech on the work of the California environmental movement driving change nationwide.  “The world looks to California to see what the future will bring,” Steyer said at the Saturday luncheon. View  video of speech.


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LEMON GROVE PROTESTERS SEEK STOP TO SHERIFF TROLLEY SWEEPS

 

June 25, 2015 (Lemon Grove) – At a “Black Lives Matter” rally held last Monday in Lemon Grove, approximately 30 activists including representatives of religious, civil liberties, and immigrant rights groups called for a halt to the Sheriff’s “Operation Lemon Drop” and other similar law enforcement sweeps.


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BLACK LIVES MATTER: RALLY IN LEMON GROVE MONDAY, JUNE 22

East County News Service

June 22, 2015 (San Diego's East County)--Summit Unitarian Universalist Fellowship will be holding a Standing on the Side of Love event to support the national "Black Lives Matter" movement in Lemon Grove, California on June 22nd from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.. 

The movement is a rallying cry against police actions and a criminal justice system which results in extremely disproportionate acts of violence, incrimination and incarceration of Blacks in America. This event will also advocate that local law enforcement agencies such as the San Diego Sheriffs' Department stop conducting actions like Operation Lemon Drop which appear to target low income populations of color.

The rally will start at the northwest corner of Lemon Grove Avenue and Broadway.  At 5:30, local speakers will make short presentations regarding this movement in our region.


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SUMMIT UU FELLOWSHIP SUPPORTS "BLACK LIVES MATTER" IN SANTEE

 

June 3, 2015 (Santee) --Summit Unitarian Universalist Fellowship sponsored a march May 31st to support the national “Black Lives Matter” movement.  With Standing on the Side of Love shirts and signs as well as a “Black Lives Matter” banners, members of the church stood on corners and walked in a busy neighborhood in Santee.


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SECOND VIDEO IN SHOOTING OF UNARMED BLACK MAN, OFFICER FACES MURDER CHARGES

 

By Ed Barrena

April 11, 2015 (South Carolina)--“Black Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter.” Those are the cries of chanting protestors after another officer involved shooting, in which a white police officer shot to death an unarmed black man. The incident occurred in South Carolina on Saturday April 4th,


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