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Brands cut ties over CrossFit CEO's George Floyd tweet
Fitness brands including Reebok have cut ties with CrossFit after the company's CEO posted a tweet making light of George Floyd's death.
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Watch this 1980 ’60 Minutes’ story about the 1958 murder of Daniel Bell by Milwaukee police
On February 2, 1958, a 22-year old black man named Daniel Bell was pulled over by two white Milwaukee police officers near the corner of 8th and Wright. Bell had a broken taillight. Bell jumped out of his car and ran. The officers gave chase and caught up with Bell at 2650 N. 6th St. There, one of the officers, Thomas Grady, shot Bell at close range in the back of the neck. He planted a knife on Bell, and would go on to claim that the shooting was in self defense. And inquest was soon held, and even though a neighbor who saw the shooting testified that Bell did not have a knife (and even though the knife was planted in the right hand of the left-handed Bell), an all-white jury cleared the police of any wrongdoing.
More than two decades passed. Then, in 1979, the second officer involved in the shooting, Louis Krause, came forward with the truth. Krause’s story about what really happened in 1958 is the subject of this remarkable 60 Minutes story, originally broadcast in 1980 and uploaded to YouTube only yesterday.
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Maurice Gordon: Chemistry Student Killed By NJ Trooper During Routine Traffic Stop
Two days before George Floyd’s death was captured on video and went viral around the world, Maurice Gordon, a Black Poughkeepsie, New York, resident, was shot and killed on the side of the Garden State Parkway during what is reported to be a routine traffic stop.
According to NJ.com, Gordon was pulled over for speeding by an unidentified state trooper on the morning of May 23. When the officer asked the 28-year-old to move his car to another spot on the roadway, Gordon’s car would not restart. The trooper reportedly called a tow company for Gordon, and as they waited, the trooper invited the native of Jamaica to wait inside his police car. Gordon was patted down to ensure he was not carrying a weapon but was not placed under arrest.
Once inside the car, NJ.com reports that Gordon unbuckled his seatbelt twice and was asked by the trooper to remain buckled. The third time, after waiting inside the police car for 30 minutes with no update or information on why he was being held, the chemistry major at Dutchess Community College in New York attempted to exit the vehicle. An altercation ensued with the officer roughing up Gordon and fatally shooting him.
William O. Wagstaff III, the Gordon family attorney, told the Wall Street Journal that he could hear Gordon screaming in the snippet of the video that was released to him. As Gordon lay bloodied on the ground, the trooper picked his body up, dropped it back down and handcuffed him. Wagstaff does not know if he died at the scene, in the ambulance or at the hospital.
Gordon’s mother, Racquel Barrett, flew to New York from London last week to seek out information on the murder of her son. Right now authorities are being tight-lipped and NJ Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said they are withholding details and the full video of the fatal traffic stop until witness interviews are complete.
Gordon’s family is remembering him as the young man who enjoyed singing in the choir, who was a stellar student, and who was very close to his family. He was also an older brother who often called his sister just to say “I love you.”
At 19, Gordon moved from Spanish Town, Jamaica, to pursue an education in the United States, according to NJ.com.
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Virginia man who plowed his truck into Black Lives Matter crowd is the head of the state’s Ku Klux Klan
Over the weekend, a Virginia man was arrested for driving his truck into a crowd of protesters. It has now been revealed that the accused, Harry H. Rogers, is also the head of the Virginia chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.
WTVR News reported Monday that Rogers was charged by police with attempted malicious wounding (a felony), destruction of property (also a felony), and assault and battery (a misdemeanor) after the incident. When he was arrested, Rogers confessed to officers he is the president of the Ku Klux Klan in the state and claimed to be the highest-ranking member of the Klan that is not in prison.
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Wisconsin Attorney Arrested After Spitting In Black Protester’s Face
According to a Monmouth University poll released last week, the majority of Americans agree with the protests that have sprung up in the aftermath of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery’s deaths. Who is not in that majority is a 64-year-old Shorewood, Wisconsin, attorney who, according to Patch.com, was arrested twice over the weekend for spitting and shoving protesters as well as kneeing an officer in the groin.
Stephanie Rapkin, an estate planning and probate attorney, showed her disdain for the demonstrators who were peacefully protesting in her community by approaching the crowd on Saturday and then spitting on a young Black teen who was in the group. She was arrested by police later that evening but was not held because of COVID-19 restrictions.
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