Black Lives Matter
Protests
At the Netroots
Nation Conference in July 2015, dozens of Black Lives Matter
activists took over the stage at an event featuring Martin O'Malley
and Bernie Sanders. Activists, including Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse
Cullors, asked both candidates for specific policy proposals to address deaths
in police custody.[165] The
protesters chanted several slogans, including "if I die in police custody,
burn everything down". After conference organizers pleaded with the
protesters for several minutes, O'Malley responded by pledging to release a
wide-ranging plan for criminal justice reform. Protesters later booed O'Malley
when he stated "Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives
matter."[166]
O'Malley later apologized for his remarks, saying that he didn't mean to
disrespect the black community.[166]
On August 8, 2015, a speech by Democratic presidential candidate and civil
rights activist Bernie
Sanders was disrupted by a group from the Seattle Chapter of Black
Lives Matter including chapter co-founder Marissa Johnson[167] who
walked onstage, seized the microphone from him and called his supporters
racists and white supremacists.[168][169][170] Sanders
issued a platform in response.[171]
Nikki Stephens, the operator of a Facebook page called
"Black Lives Matter: Seattle" issued an apology to Sanders'
supporters, claiming these actions did not represent her understanding of BLM.
She was then sent messages by members of the Seattle Chapter which she
described as threatening, and was forced to change the name of her group to
"Black in Seattle". The founders of Black Lives Matter stated that
they had not issued an apology.[172]
In August, activists chanting "Black Lives
Matter" interrupted the Las Vegas rally of Republican presidential
candidate Jeb Bush.[173] As Bush
exited early, some of his supporters started responding to the protesters by
chanting "white lives matter" or "all lives matter".[174]
In October, a speech by Hillary Clinton on
criminal justice reform and race at Atlanta University Center was interrupted by BLM activists.[175]
In November, a BLM protester was physically assaulted at
a Donald Trump rally in Birmingham, Alabama. In response, Trump said, "maybe he
should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was
doing."[176] Trump
had previously threatened to fight any Black Lives Matter protesters if they
attempted to speak at one of his events.[177]
In March 2016, Black Lives Matter helped organize the 2016
Donald Trump Chicago
rally protest that forced Trump to cancel the event.[178][179] Four
individuals were arrested and charged in the incident. Two were "charged
with felony aggravated battery to a police officer and
resisting arrest", one was "charged with two misdemeanor counts of
resisting and obstructing a peace officer", and the fourth "was
charged with one misdemeanor count of resisting and obstructing a peace
officer".[180] A CBS
reporter was one of those arrested outside the rally. He was charged with
resisting arrest.
Law enforcement
Many individuals in law enforcement have been critical of
BLM.[citation needed] The hashtag #BlueLivesMatter, Blue Lives Matter,
was created by supporters of the police.[200] Sheriff
David A. Clarke Jr. of Milwaukee County
has been critical of Black Lives Matter, stating that there is no police
brutality problem in America and that "there is no racism in the hearts of
police officers".[201]
Marchers using a BLM banner were recorded in a video chanting, "Pigs in a
blanket, fry 'em like bacon" at the Minnesota State Fair. Law enforcement
groups said that the chant promotes death to police. The protest organizer
disputed that interpretation, saying "What we are promoting is that if
black people who kill police officers are going to fry, then we want police officers to face the same treatment that we face as
civilians for killing officers."[202] A North
Carolina police chief retired after calling BLM a terrorist group.[203] A
police officer in Oregon was removed from street duty following a social media post
in which he said he would have to "babysit these fools", in reference
to a planned BLM event.
List of killings by law enforcement officers in the
United States
Martin O'Malley
Martin O'Malley
was the Baltimore (MD) mayor, the Maryland state government governor, a
member of the Homeland Security Advisory
Council, a presidential candidate for the 2016 presidential election, and is married to District Court of Baltimore City associate judge Catherine Curran O'Malley.
Note: Freddie Gray officers suing prosecutor Marilyn Mosby
By Eliott C. McLaughlin and Steve Almasy, CNN
Updated 11:52 AM ET, Thu July 28, 2016
(CNN)Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby
is going from prosecutor to civil defendant in
connection with the case of the death of Freddie Gray.
On Wednesday, Mosby announced
that charges against three officers still facing trial were being dropped.
Mosby gave only a statement, but had to leave without taking questions because
five of the officers in the case have filed lawsuits against her.
Officers Garrett Miller,
Edward Nero and William Porter as well as Sgt. Alicia White and Lt. Brian Rice
are suing Mosby and Maj. Samuel Cogen of the Baltimore Sheriff's Office. Cogen was
the law enforcement officer who filed charging documents against the officers.
The lawsuits allege false
arrest, false imprisonment, defamation or false light, and other assertions.
They were filed in U.S. District Court in
Maryland in 2015 in late April and early May around the time the
officers were arrested.
Catherine
Curran O'Malley is an associate judge for the District Court of Baltimore City, and married to Martin O'Malley.
Kenneth
Canterbury is a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council, and the president for the Fraternal Order of Police.
Raymond W. Kelly
was a member of the Homeland Security
Advisory Council, an honorary president for the Police Athletic League of New York City, and a commissioner for the
New York City Police Department.
Donald
Trump is a director at the Police
Athletic League of New York City, and the candidate for the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign.
William J. Bratton
is a member of the Homeland Security
Advisory Council, a commissioner for the New York City Police Department, was a Boston (MA) police commissioner, a Boston Metropolitan Police superintendent, a Los Angeles (CA) Police Department chief, and the chairman for Kroll Inc.
Michael G.
Cherkasky was a court-appointed monitor for the Los Angeles (CA) Police Department, and the president & CEO for
Kroll Inc.
Rodney King sued the
Los Angeles (CA) Police Department for
brutality, and John L. Burris was
his attorney.
John L. Burris
was Rodney King’s attorney, and was
a fundraiser for the 2012 Barack Obama
presidential campaign.
Lee H. Hamilton is
a member of the Homeland Security
Advisory Council, a director at BAE
Systems Inc., and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Michael Chertoff
is the chairman for BAE Systems Inc.,
a senior of counsel at Covington &
Burling LLP, and was an assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Covington
& Burling LLP was the lobby firm for BAE Systems Inc.
Eric H. Holder Jr.
is a partner at Covington & Burling
LLP, was an attorney general at the U.S.
Department of Justice for the Barack
Obama administration, a board member for the American Constitution Society, and an intern at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.
Debo P. Adegbile
is a director at the American
Constitution Society, a partner at Wilmer
Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, was an acting president &
director-counsel for the NAACP Legal
Defense & Educational Fund, an assistant attorney general nominee for
the U.S. Department of Justice, and
the Fraternal Order of Police opposed
his nomination as assistant attorney general.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the American
Constitution Society.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and was the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and the Aspen
Institute (think tank).
Cameron F. Kerry
is a fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), John F. Kerry’s brother, and an associate
at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.
John
F. Kerry is Cameron F. Kerry’s brother,
the secretary at the
U.S. Department of
State for the Barack Obama
administration, and married to Teresa
Heinz Kerry.
Teresa Heinz
Kerry is married to John F. Kerry,
the chair for the Heinz Endowments, an
emeritus life trustee at the Carnegie
Mellon University, a trustee emeritus at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Jared L. Cohon is
a director at the Heinz Endowments,
was the president of Carnegie Mellon
University, a trustee at the Carnegie
Museums of Pittsburgh, and a member
of the Homeland Security Advisory Council.
Andrew Carnegie
was the endowed predecessor schools for the Carnegie Mellon University, the founder of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, and the founder of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Carnegie
Corporation of New York was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think
tank).
John R. Allen is
a fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Homeland Security
Advisory Council.
Annise Parker is
a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and an advisory board member for Everytown
for Gun Safety.
Everytown
for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety,
Gun Control” group for guns.
Michael R.
Bloomberg is the founder of Everytown
for Gun Safety, and the founder of the Bloomberg
Family Foundation.
Manny
Diaz is a director at the Bloomberg
Family Foundation, and was a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council.
Bloomberg
Family Foundation was a funder for the Aspen
Institute (think tank).
Jane Lakes Harman
is a trustee at the Aspen Institute
(think tank), and a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council.
Martin O'Malley
was a member of the Homeland Security
Advisory Council, the Baltimore (MD)
mayor, the Maryland state government
governor, a presidential candidate for the 2016
presidential election, and is married to District Court of Baltimore City associate judge Catherine Curran O'Malley.
Catherine
Curran O'Malley is married to Martin
O'Malley, and an associate judge for the District Court of Baltimore City.
Freddie Gray officers suing prosecutor Marilyn Mosby
By Eliott C. McLaughlin and Steve Almasy, CNN
Updated 11:52 AM ET, Thu July 28, 2016
(CNN)Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby
is going from prosecutor to civil defendant in
connection with the case of the death of Freddie Gray.
On Wednesday, Mosby announced
that charges against three officers still facing trial were being dropped.
Mosby gave only a statement, but had to leave without taking questions because
five of the officers in the case have filed lawsuits against her.
Officers Garrett Miller,
Edward Nero and William Porter as well as Sgt. Alicia White and Lt. Brian Rice
are suing Mosby and Maj. Samuel Cogen of the Baltimore Sheriff's Office. Cogen was
the law enforcement officer who filed charging documents against the officers.
The lawsuits allege false
arrest, false imprisonment, defamation or false light, and other assertions.
They were filed in U.S. District Court in
Maryland in 2015 in late April and early May around the time the
officers were arrested.