Has the us population been taken hostage and subjugated by the police yet? The police and their unions have threated any elected official that dares indicate any oversite of police brutality or even make police officers liable for their actions just like any other person. The police in large cities are gangs, infiltrated by white supremacists, and right-wing political operatives that enforce a repressive conservative fascist ideology against the public who want to move to a more accepting progressive society. Hugs.
New York City has agreed to pay more than $20,000 each to hundreds of individuals who were trapped by police and attacked with batons and pepper spray during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx.
According to documents filed in federal court on Tuesday evening, the city and the NYPD reached a proposed settlement to compensate anyone who was corralled by police during the infamous June 4 crackdown, which took place at the height of the protests against the police killing of George Floyd.
The settlement, which still must be approved by a judge, is believed to be the largest-ever per-person payout for a class action lawsuit arising from a mass arrest, according to Alison Frick, an attorney for the named plaintiffs who brought the class action lawsuit.
“It’s highly unusual,” said Martin Stolar, a civil rights attorney who is not involved in the case. “It shows me that the city is making an admission that there was substantial wrongdoing on the part of the department, and rather than going to trial where they risk judgment of a higher amount, they agreed to a settlement.”
Roughly 300 protesters were marching along 136th Street and Brook Avenue when they were blocked on both sides by walls of heavily-armored NYPD officers, a tactic known as kettling. Officers proceeded to attack the group with batons and pepper spray, before arresting an estimated 278 people. Among those trapped were medics, legal observers and journalists, including those reporting for Gothamist and WNYC who may be eligible for compensation.
A subsequent report from Human Rights Watch found cops acted “unprovoked and without warning, whaling their batons, beating people from car tops, shoving them down to the ground, and firing pepper spray in their faces.” The group accused the NYPD of “serious violations of international human rights law.” They described the police response, which was overseen by high-ranking department officials and primarily carried out by the NYPD’s controversial Strategic Response Group, as a “serious violation of international human rights law.”
Under the terms of the settlement, anyone who was present for the kettling will be eligible to receive $21,500. An additional $2,500 will be awarded to each person who was arrested. The city is expected to pay an estimated $6 million to participants in the Mott Haven protest, in addition to attorney’s fees arising from the case.
Frick said the settlement is expected to be finalized by a judge in October, with victims likely receiving compensation before the end of the year.
“It was a pre-planned and premeditated assault,” Frick told Gothamist. “This is a historic settlement and we feel very confident the court will approve it.”
Emily Janakiram, a protester arrested in Mott Haven, described her reaction to the settlement as “shock and awe.” She recalled spending hours in a jail cell, surrounded by other protesters who were bloodied and bruised, wondering why they had been arrested for a peaceful demonstration..
“I’m glad to see there’s some kind of accountability being handed out,” she said. “But it’s bothersome that it’s being paid for by the taxpayer and it’s not coming out of the NYPD’s budget, which is what we were trying to draw attention to at the time.”
In an unattributed statement on Wednesday, the NYPD said the protest came during a “challenging moment for the department,” as officers attempted to balance demonstrators’ first amendment rights with what the agency referred to as “wide-scale rioting” and destruction.
The settlement does not include an admission of wrongdoing by the NYPD, whose leadership under former Mayor Bill de Blasio vigorously defended police actions on the night of the protest. On the day after the protest, former NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said the police response was “executed nearly flawlessly,” describing the protest leaders – including well-known Bronx community organizers – as “outside agitators.”
On Wednesday, though, the agency said it had “re-envisioned” its policies and training procedures around large-scale demonstrations after receiving recommendations from several outside agencies.
De Blasio and Shea did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Samantha Max contributed reporting.
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
I have not been well. I have heart rates in the high 140’s. Twice I have gone into serious atrial fibrillation territory. Yes heart attack or heart shut down. The doctors are changing my medications to get my heart rate, my pain, my other issues under control. I get very few hours right now on the computer to read what I think is worth reading and even less to share it. Now I am hearing that because I have not been able to get to comments due to my health and thinking the people who come here would be science based reasonable people who would understand the majority of the medical community agrees with trans affirmative care I could rest while my doctors find ways to help me.
Turns out I was wrong. Decent people would have understood the situation I am under, how some days I struggle to breathe with my heart rate so high, how sitting in my desk chair causes me to feel ever building pain and yet I don’t have the money to buy / build the things I need to keep doing what I did.
Turns out the anti- trans trolls who I already fully debunked moved in in my absence and tried to full spread their lies, their myths. In the process they have sucked in normally reasonable people. All because I was not feeling up to getting to the comments something I have been struggling with for the last year.
I thank those that contacted me with the situation. I do my blog to counter the misinformation and hate put out by the regressive religious right. My side is backed up by science and peer reviewed studies, something the other side cannot claim. They want to hold on to tradition, to the way it always was in their lifetime, not realizing before that it was different also. I am done and angry.
Let me say that again. I am pissed off and angry. For now until I can go back threw all the comments and correct the misinformation and hate I am shutting comment off on things I post, if I manage to find time to post anything at all.
Last night I went to bed about 7 PM, my pulse was racing, my pain high and due to my medications and my supper I was very tired. I had a good blood sugar before supper of only 104, but I knew to cover more than that with my insulin. I had more tabs open and things I wanted to get to on both computers than I can describe. I would love to share that news with everyone, but the regressive haters seem not to want that. OK then if it is a constant fight on FACTS you want to have I guess I have to divert what energy I have to that.
The truth is on the progressive accepting side! The regressive traditional side is wrong. Just as it has always been for all of history! The earth is not flat, the sun doesn’t rotate around the earth! Black people are not less than whites, Jews are not evil as a group. Grow the fuck up all you people who say that it was not that way before. Yes I am angry. I don’t feel well and I must now deal with people that think the Florida administration that claims vaccines are bad and dangerous to your health has the right take on teaching. Dogs that love gravy do you people ever get out of your bubbles and look around the world. The rest of the world is leaving the US behind on how to treat people, education, healthcare including child / mother death during childhood. The last bastion of resistance in a capitalist society is centered in the US while the rest of the developed nations soar above us in how they treat their people. But you in the US just keep worrying about who uses the bathroom and be suspicious if they don’t look how you think they should. Oh crap those undeserving people might get enough government assistance to eat a full meal today. Keep watching so the corporations can steal everything you have with the government supporting them!
So to those that sent me messages of the mess my comment sections have become I thank you. To those assholes who wanted to abuse my faith in humanity I am going to deal with you. And I am angry! Hugs
“In God We Trust” is a motto, not a part of America’s origin story. Mondale Robinson breaks down the historical basis for the separation of church and state on Rebel HQ.
“A Florida school district voted this week to ban a book on penguins—yes, penguins—from its libraries, claiming the book’s “sexual innuendo” was inappropriate for elementary students.
In a 3-2 vote on Monday, the Escambia County School Board, near Pensacola, deemed And Tango Makes Three unsuitable for students, overriding the recommendation of a district-mandated review committee made up of administrators, teachers, parents, and community members.
“The fascination is still on that it’s two male penguins raising a chick,” board member David Williams said ahead of the vote. “So, I’ll be voting to remove the book from our libraries.”
Orlando folks should tweet this at their local news. Where's the coverage? People have the right to know Orlando has nazis harassing its Jewish community with terrible hate speech & harassment ON THE SABBATH
LGBTQ+ children in the community have been attacked and are now afraid to go to school or be around other kids. Attacks against adults have risen. But the preacher pushing the hate says it is not a bad thing, he is just telling the truth that "accused the LGBTQ community of "grooming children" and acting in "perverted" sexual behavior." The article linked paints the community now split as some follow local pastor Ronald Gayin oppressing the targets of his hate and the rest trying to be allies to a frightened group under attack. What a godly leader of the people he is. Hugs
PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: Jeff Landry blocks flood damage funding for New Orleans over the city’s position on abortion rights. Landry advises parents on how to evade COVID protocols instituted by public schools. Landry wins court battle to block workplace protections for LGBTQ state employees. The Louisiana Supreme Court upholds Landry’s win against LGBTQ state employees. Hate group leader Tony Perkins praises “courageous” Landry for his attacks on LGBTQ protections. State Rep. Jeff Landry tries to end LGBTQ studies minor at his alma mater, the University of Lafayette.
And in the above we see the move by the rabid right, by the maga, by the majority of republican office holders to move the country from democracy and freedom from religion enforced in laws to instead install a theocracy where their brand of Christianity is forced on the people regardless of their religious views. This is no longer a minority in the minority party, these people have worked hard and spent an untold amount of money to get their religious believers in to places of power to enforce their religious doctrines as the US Taliban. Hugs
From the linked article: “I see this at the very least as a threat to my academic freedom. PBA is a Christian university. It has a deserved reputation as a politically conservative university. I could somewhat understand if the university had requested a meeting to review my material. I say ‘somewhat’ because, as a full professor with over 20 years of experience at the university, one would think they would trust me,” he wrote. “Indeed, the university has shown me little respect throughout this ordeal. But instead, without giving me due process, they brought their concern over my racial-justice unit with a threat of termination. I also believe that things like this do not happen in a vacuum. There is a reason why PBA is threatening me now rather than five years ago or 10 years ago. PBA is conforming to a toxic political culture, and they are playing a role that is a part of that culture’s script: a role that says, ‘We do not like to have uncomfortable conversations about race.’ There is no place for a role like that at an institution that calls itself a university, let alone a Christian university.” Notice what the Christian teacher is saying. In 20 years of teaching of the racism and need for racial justice in the US he is facing loss of his job because of the stance of the governor DeathSantis who claims that teaching the truth of US racist history and the ongoing injustice minorities face is illegal ideology. It doesn’t fit his white nationalist views and his attempt to install a regressive 1950s white automatic rule / superiority back into society via the schools. It is true that people that get an advanced education often get their eyes open to the bigotry and narrow mindedness of the limited education they received which causes them to move to a more tolerant and open view of reality / society. Hugs
Gustav2 Joe in NM3 hours ago edited It is an attempt to control all education in the US. From cradle to college. There has been complaining in all the churches about how the kids don’t come back to church after college. It didn’t matter before because few conservative RCC and Protestant White Fundies went to college, now both have made it to the suburbs, college is expected. With few marriages preformed in church (only 20%), the churches have lost another connection with the next generation and they are less likely to return with their own children. The push for only religious marriages are real marriages and the restructuring of education have one thing in common. The steady decline in church membership. Even the largest denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, is not replacing the Olds that are dying off with Youngs.
Too bad it is against a teachers morals to be nice and use a name or pronoun that a person asks them. I don’t see how it is a moral dilemma or even a religious one. If Robert wishes to be called Bobbie the religious teacher is happy with it, but what if Robert wishes to be called Bohdana or Bonita orBonawhich are all girls names in different languages. I just learned that in German the name Boby is a girl’s name. In the US the name Bobby is both male and female as all names should be. If the teacher doesn’t know a names gender association and they use it without malice are they committing a sin? I don’t get this fake outrage at something that is just being nice and respectful. Hugs
This is great. The short post details his upset and anger at a lot of religions being accepting of gay people. Many have come to the idea that the sin is the sex act not the person’s orientation, and some sects are allies and supportive of gay people and same sex relationships. But you see this interferes with their grift of raising money from bigots, mostly older religious people who are sure gays being allowed to exist in society will anger the god of all things to the point he will destroy or hurt the entire country including maybe them. If most churches catch up with the modern era, well the people won’t be told how bad and evil it is so they won’t give up their merger social security check or make the big donations these hate groups have come to depend on to keep them living well. Think of the fund raising pitches they have lost recently. They can not raise money on stopping abortion after the SCOTUS gave a completely religious ruling on the issue. They fund raised hard to stop same sex marriage before the congress and Biden signed into law the Respect for Marriage Act with every pitch saying they could stop it if you gave just another donation. But of course, they failed again. Now Brian Brown has another pitch about the gays he is pushing to grift more money. That is not to say these people are not dangerous and that they don’t still have a lot of inflance on the right with the republican leaders. Bigotry and fear raise a lot of cash and gets votes. And both the republicans and the fundamentalists / evangelical religious groups do want to wipe the LGBTQ+ out of society to install their religious doctrines into laws to regress the US society back to the past and keep it there. Simply put their comfort zones and what they can deal with is 70 or 80 years old, and their holy book is stuck in the deep past of 2,500 years ago. They can not accept the modern age when their all knowing god only knew what was accepted by a minority 2,500 years ago. Hugs.
And on these same republicans that claim that the democrats are stealing elections, so they need to enact strict voting laws that disenfranchise a lot of voters while the right itself is desperately breaking election laws to try to entrench their dying minority into permanent rule. It is important to remember by numbers of people the republican party is a shrinking minority, and their ideas are ever more unpopular with the majority of the country. This is their desperate attempt to push time back to when their ideas were popular and the way the country was. Hugs
These are all articles I wanted to talk about. But right now the center of my spine is on fire, I have an appointment with pain management on the 6th and I will get the report of the MRI and ask to move forward with quality of life. I can’t continue this way. Ron is talking about moving one of my Xboxes to the bedroom so I can rest and still play. Best wishes to everyone. Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 