The Weekly Town Crier (06/12/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (06/12/20)

Read “Bonnie Pointer, Pointer Sisters Singer, Dies at 69” at Spin.

Read “When Christians won’t acknowledge racism, protest becomes church” at Religion News Service.

Read “An open letter to my fellow white Americans” at America Magazine.

Read “Why White Evangelicals Won’t Rise To This Moment” at Colorblind Christians. ““It is probably not possible for evangelical leaders to please at once the enthusiastic Trump supporter and the black lives matter protestor. If the past is prologue, white evangelical elites are likely to try to thread the needle anyway. Crucial to their calculations will be the knowledge that there are far more Trump supporters in their midst than black lives matter activists.”

Read “Unliked Likes: Pastor Chris Hodges, Church of the Highlands, and Twitter's Wrath Some social media "likes" gets Church of the Highlands kicked out of some public schools they were renting, but such cancel culture is the wrong answer” at Christianity Today.

Read “A Person You Flee At Parties; Donald And The Devil” by David Bentley Hart at First Things.

Read the opinion piece “Ignore the optics. Trump’s executive order could jump-start the cause of global religious freedom” at America Magazine.

Read “The Christian Martyrdom Movement Ascends to the White House A former professor of Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s new press secretary, explores her enduring obsession with religious persecution and death” at New Republic.

Read “Is There a Religious Left? Why progressive activism rooted in faith is so often misconstrued” at The New Yorker.

Read “Tim Keller Asks for Prayers for Pancreatic Cancer The New York pastor and author announced his diagnosis Sunday and begins chemo next week” at Christianity Today.

Read “Justice Too Long Delayed It’s time for the church to make restitution for racial sin” at Christianity Today.

Read "A Soul Check for White Christians In the words of MLK, "There comes a time when silence is betrayal” at Christianity Today.

This week in the president’s Bible-Photo-Fiasco:

  • Read “What I’d like to say to President Trump about the Bible I’d tell him a secret I learned from Eugene Peterson” at Christian Century.

  • Read “Catholic Archbishop Criticizes Trump's Visit To St. John Paul II Shrine” at NPR.

  • Read/Watch “The crackdown before Trump’s photo op What video and other records show about the clearing of protesters outside the White House” at Washington Post.

  • Read “More than 1,250 former Justice Dept. workers call for internal watchdog to probe Barr role in clearing demonstrators from Lafayette Square” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Breaking News: The top U.S. military official, General Mark Milley, apologized for taking part in President Trump’s walk to a church photo op. “I should not have been there.” at New York Times.

Read “African American Alumni Call on Jerry Falwell Jr. to Step Down Thirty-five faith leaders who went to Liberty University released a letter criticizing the college president's rhetoric, including his recent blackface mask tweet” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “Liberty’s Jerry Falwell Jr. apologizes for tweet; director of diversity resigns” at Washington Post.

Read “Raise your signs and voices. Then raise your church's race awareness” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “Preaching Against Racism Is Not a Distraction from the Gospel The pulpit gives a record of our witness” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “White Pastors: Our Decision to Show Up Matters It takes humility to be an ally. Even if we make mistakes, we need to do it” at Christianity Today.

  • Consider “When protest becomes prayer” at America Magazine.

Browse “Anti-Racism For Kids 101: Starting To Talk About Race” at Books For Littles.

Read “There Is a Stench’: Soiled Clothes and No Baths for Migrant Children at a Texas Center” at New York Times.

Read “Native Americans Want to be Included in Race Talks” at Voice Of America.

Read “Drake University grad gets Merriam-Webster Dictionary to update 'racism' definition” at Des Moines Register.

Read “An Empirical Analysis of Racial Diiferences in Police Use of Force” by Roland G. Fryer, Jr. at https://scholar.harvard.edu/.

Learn about the Tulsa Race Massacre (1921) at History.

  • Meet “The Last Surviving Witness To The Tulsa Race Riot Of 1921” at NPR’s Codeswitch.

Learn about the Rosewood Massacre (1923) at History.

Read “Hundreds of Thousands Sign Petitions Urging the U.S. Government to Declare KKK a Terrorist Group” at Newsweek.

Read “The Familial Language of Black Grief Black people feel the pain and loss of black life as if it were our very own blood that had been brutalized—because it easily could have been” by Jemar Tisby for The Atlantic.

Read “Ohio State Sen. Steve Huffman, a Republican, has been fired from his position as an emergency room doctor after using racist language to question whether people of color are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus because of poor hygiene” at Cleveland.com.

Read “The White House is preparing a speech on race relations written by Stephen Miller, who crafted the Trump Administration’s immigration plan along the southern border with Mexico” at American Urban Radio Networks.

In the “You mean this didn’t exist before” category, read: “Band-Aid launches bandages for different skin tones.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments):

  • Read “U.S. Marine Corps Orders Confederate Flag Ban Including on Bumper Stickers, Mugs And T-Shirts” at Newsweek.

    Read/watch Tennessee "lawmakers vote down removal of Nathan Bedford Forrest bust” at WSMV.

  • Read “Protests Are Bringing Down Confederate Monuments Around The South” at NPR.

  • Read “NASCAR’s Bubba Wallace wants Confederate flags banned from races” at Fox 59.

  • Read “NASCAR bans Confederate flags from all racetracks” at ESPN.

  • Ever wonder “Is There a Racist Monument In Your Town? Check This Map to Find Out The Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked Confederate monuments for years, but the map has taken on a new utility now” at Vice.

  • Read “What Are We to Do With Cinematic Monuments to the Confederacy?” at Vulture.

  • Read “Protesters Topple Jefferson Davis Statue In Richmond, Va.” at NPR.

  • Read “J. D. Greear Urges SBC to Retire Historic Gavel from Slaveholding Preacher” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “'Homage To Hate': Pelosi Calls For Confederate Statues Removed From U.S. Capitol” at NPR.

  • Read “Black Lives Matter Protesters Topple Slave Trader Statue and Dump It in Harbour The much-hated statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston now lies at the bottom of Bristol Harbour” at Vice.

  • Read “Congress Heads Toward Clash With Trump Over Removal Of Confederate Symbols” at NPR.

  • Read “Cuomo declines to call for removal of Christopher Columbus statue” at The Hill.

  • Read “Beheaded Christopher Columbus Statue In Boston Will Be Removed From North End Park” at Boston CBS.

  • Read “Tennessee Republicans Rally To Preserve Statue And Holiday For KKK Founder” at Forbes.

This Week in Protest News:

  • Read “Why these protests are different There have been uprisings against police brutality and racism before, but this is the country at its exasperation point” at Vox.

  • Read “Police abolitionists find fuel in the protests As more people lose faith in the state, organizers offer alternatives” at Chicago Reader.

  • Read “DC Mayor has “Black Lives Matters” painted in massive letters on street leading to The White House” at Brooklyn Vegan.

  • Read “Kanye West joins Chicago protests after donating $2M to families of Floyd, Taylor & Arbery” at Brooklyn Vegan.

  • Read “Phoenix Police Chief Marches With Protesters, Faces Criticism” at KJZZ.

  • Read “Show Taper/Defense Attorney Represents George Floyd Protesters Pro Bono Dan Lynch, founder of NYCTaper, has been offering pro bono services to arrested demonstrators” at Rolling Stone.

  • Read “Iowa City protest leader jailed after unlawful assembly case” at Associated Press.

  • Read “Officers slashed tires on vehicles parked amid Minneapolis protests, unrest” at Star Tribune.

  • Read “Mitt Romney Joins Evangelical Racial Justice March in DC” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “The New White House Fence Is Getting Covered In Protest Art” at DCist.

  • Read "Amherst man pushed by police responds after Trump tweet: 'Black Lives Matter' at Democrat and Chronicle.

  • Read “Ohio protester dies two days after exposure to tear gas, pepper spray”

  • Read “Understanding the LRAD, the “Sound Cannon” Police Are Using at Protests, and How to Protect Yourself From It” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “How The Antifa Fantasy Spread In Small Towns Across The U.S. Rumors of roving bands of Antifa have followed small protests all over the United States. Why are people so ready to believe them?” at Buzzfeed News.

  • Read “Rev. Al Sharpton criticizes Trump's response to peaceful protesters” at MSNBC.

  • Read “White Signs at Black Protests The jovial, jokey messaging I have witnessed at New York protests illustrates my profound discomfort with how I feel white people are approaching this critical moment” at Vanity Fair.

  • Read “All Lives Matter protesters re-enacted George Floyd's death as a Black Lives Matter march went by” at CNN.* *(Editor’s Note from Holiday at the Sea: This has nothing to do with asserting that "All Lives Matter" and everything to do with White Supremacy.)

  • Read “The 'Concerned Citizen Who Happens To Be Armed' Is Showing Up At Protests” at NPR.

  • Read “Amazon pauses police use of its facial recognition tech for a year” at Reuters.

    Read “Microsoft says it won’t sell facial recognition software to police until there’s a national law ‘grounded in human rights’ at CNBC.

George Floyd:

  • Read “Trump says he hopes George Floyd ‘looking down’ and seeing today’s jobs numbers as ‘a great day for him’ at The Independent.

  • Read “George Floyd protests: Trump says ‘MAGA loves the black people’ after being accused of stoking racial violence” at The Independent.

  • Read “Texas GOP chairwoman faces calls to resign after she pushed a conspiracy theory that George Floyd's death was staged to hurt Trump” at Daily Mail.

  • Read “Minneapolis Will Ban Chokeholds After The Killing Of George Floyd” at Buzzfeed News.

  • Read “Megachurch pastor Joel Osteen joins Black Lives Matter march with the family of George Floyd” at Charity Institute.

  • Read “'Stop the pain': George Floyd's brother testifies on policing reform Philonise Floyd appeared before the House Judiciary Committee' at ABC News.

Breonna Taylor:

  • Read “FBI opens an investigation into the death of Breonna Taylor” at ABC News.

  • Read “Louisville police release the Breonna Taylor incident report. It's virtually blank” Courier-Journal.

  • Read “Rand Paul introduces Justice for Breonna Taylor Act to ban "no-knock" warrants” at Axios.

Read “Racial Injustice has Benefited Me - A Confession” by Phil Vischer (Veggie Tales).

Read “A Look At Housing Inequality And Racism In The U.S.” at Forbes.

Read “Dear Companies: Your BLM Posts Are Cute But We Want To See Policy Change” at Forbes.

Read “Starbucks Won't Let Employees Wear Gear That Supports Black Lives Matter Because It Is Political Or Could Incite Violence” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “The Head Of CrossFit Has Stepped Down After Telling Staff On A Zoom Call, “We're Not Mourning For George Floyd” In a recording obtained by BuzzFeed News, Greg Glassman can also be heard sharing wild conspiracy theories about Floyd and the coronavirus” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “NFL players spoke, and Roger Goodell responded. Now what? Here's what we know” at ESPN.

Read “Rex Chapman: If fewer opportunities come from me speaking out about racism, ‘so be it’” at MSNBC. "I've been in cars with black friends on my way to NBA games before, high school games," says fmr. NBA player Rex Chapman. "Been pulled over, guns are drawn. It's a way different experience than being pulled over in a car full of white people."

Read “The Embarrassment of Democrats Wearing Kente-Cloth Stoles” at The New Yorker.

  • Read “A Thoughtful Rumination on Lawmakers' Performative Wearing of Kente Stoles to Unveil the Justice in Policing Act of 2020” at Very Smart Brothas.

Read “For Black Americans, Using Social Media Means Risking PTSD” at Slate.

Read “School’s Food Drive to Help Those Affected By Looting in Minneapolis Turns Into Tsunami of Grocery Bags Deliveries” at Good News Network.

Read “White Supremacists Take on Trappings of Religion” at Christianity Today (originally published in 1986).

Read “Reading James Baldwin can help heal the wounds of racial division” at America Magazine.

Read “5 Questions About Reparations: Answered” at Ben and Jerrys'.

Read “Nike to recognize Juneteenth as an annual paid holiday” at Yahoo.

Read “Air Force general confirmed as first black military service chief in American history” at 5 News Online.

Read “Ella Jones To Become The First Black Female Mayor Of Ferguson” at Elle.

Read “Candace ‘Black Karen’ Owens’ GoFundMe Account Suspended Over George Floyd Comments” at The Root.

Read “Michael Jordan's brand donates $100 million to organizations fighting racism against black people" at CNBC.

Read “Walmart CEO in email condemns racial violence and pledges $100 million to address systematic racism” at Business Insider.

This Week With the Police:

  • Read “American police shoot, kill and imprison more people than other developed countries. Here's the data” at CNN.

    • Read “Protests spread over police shootings. Police promised reforms. Every year, they still shoot and kill nearly 1,000 people” at Washington Post.

    • Read “Barr Says There Is No Systemic Racism in Policing The attorney general’s remarks, which mirrored those of other administration officials, came as the president was scheduled to meet with law enforcement officials at the White House” at New York Times.

    • Read “San Francisco may stop hiring cops with records of misconduct” at PBS News Hour. (Emphasis mine).

    • Read “Florida police organization offers to hire 'Buffalo 57,' 'Atlanta 6' cops who were fired, resigned over police misconduct” at ABC7 Chicago.

    • Read “Brevard sheriff ‘embarrassed,’ suspends lieutenant who tried to recruit cops from departments accused of brutality” at Orlando Sentinel.

    • Read “Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley propose creating a national database of cops with a record of misconduct” at Business Insider.

    • Read “Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop” at Medium. “I acted as a violent agent of capitalism and white supremacy. Under the guise of public safety.”

    • Read “Minneapolis Police Chief Takes on Union, Promises Reform” at New York Times.

  • Read/Watch “Minneapolis City Council members intend to defund and dismantle the city's police department” at CNN.

    • Read “Defund the police? Here’s what that really means” at Washington Post.

    • Read “Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop” at Medium.

    • Read as Joe Biden argues for more ineffective incrementalism: “Biden: We must urgently root out systemic racism, from policing to housing to opportunity Federal dollars should not go to departments that violate people’s rights or turn to violence as a first resort, but I don't support defunding police” at USA Today.

    • Consider this Tweet from Johnathan Wilson-Hartgrove: “If you’re uncomfortable w/ calls to “defund the police,” consider that calls for smaller government over the past 40 yrs have meant defunding education, public health & anti-poverty programs.”

  • Read “New York passes bill to unveil police disciplinary records” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “Democrats Unveil Police Reform Legislation Amid Protests Nationwide” at NPR.

  • Read “Police unions dig in as calls for reform grow” at CNN.

  • Read “Jami Resch steps down as Portland police chief, asks African American lieutenant to fill the job” at Oregon Live.

  • Read “All 57 members of Buffalo's Emergency Response Team RESIGN in 'disgust' over the suspension and criminal probe of two cops for shoving a peace activist, 75, to the floor during protests” at Daily Mail.

  • Read "Former Chief Of Reformed Camden, N.J., Force: Police Need 'Consent Of The People' at NPR.

  • Read “This city disbanded its police department 7 years ago. Here's what happened next” at CNN.

  • Read “‘Cops’ Canceled By Paramount Network, ‘Live PD’ Return Evaluated By A&E” at Deadline.

  • Read “Oakland school board and superintendent back elimination of district police” at San Francisco Chronicle.

Read “America is changing, and so is the media The media has gone through painful periods of change before. But this time is different” at Vox.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

  • Read “U.S. Hits 2 Million Coronavirus Cases As Many States See A Surge Of Patients” at NPR.

  • Browse “Average Daily New Cases per 100,000 people.”

  • Read “Arizona's Largest Hospital System Nearing ICU Bed Capacity” at KJZZ.

  • Read “Survey: Many Arizonans Still Reluctant To Resume Normal Activity After Coronavirus” at KJZZ.

  • Read “Former Arizona health director: State could need new stay-at-home order” at KTAR.

  • Read “Covid-free New Zealand: There are now ZERO active Covid-19 cases in the country” at The Spin Off.

  • Read “14 states and Puerto Rico hit highest seven-day average of new coronavirus infections” at Washington Post.

  • Read as Slate wonders “How Much Should You Be Worried About a COVID-19 Spike From the Protests?”

  • Read “Alarm grows as Arizona continues with days of high case increases, deaths and hospitalizations: 28,296 cases, 1,070 known deaths” at AZ Central.

  • Read “NYT Poll: Most Epidemiologists Wouldn’t Attend A Concert For A Year Or More” at Stereogum.

  • Read “Lollapalooza Canceled Due to COVID-19 The Chicago festival will instead offer a weekend-long livestream” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “Maricopa County urges masks and individual precautions to slow the increasing spread of COVID-19” at AZ Central.

  • Read “U.S. Hits 2 Million Coronavirus Cases As Many States See A Surge Of Patients” at NPR.

  • Read “Harvard health expert anticipates 200,000 US coronavirus deaths by September” at The Hill.

Read “Colin Powell announces he'll vote for Biden, saying Trump "lies all the time" at CBS News.

Read “George W. Bush and Mitt Romney won't support Trump in 2020, while some GOP officials consider voting for Biden” at Yahoo.

Read “Trump to restart MAGA rallies this month despite coronavirus The president and his team believe the massive protests in recent weeks will make it harder for critics to single him out” at Politico.

Read “That Trump Tweet? Republicans Prefer Not to See It.” at Yahoo.

Read “Market Meltdown: Dow Dives 1,800 Points On Worries Of 2nd Coronavirus Wave” at NPR.

Read “Is This the Last Stand of the ‘Law and Order’ Republicans? A punitive brand of conservatism embraced by Trump and some GOP hardliners is rapidly falling out of step with public opinion” at Politico.

Read “Justice in Policing Act: What’s included in Democrats’ police reform bill?” at MSNBC.

Read “Sen. Susan Collins Loses Endorsement Of Major Gun Control Group Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund supported the Maine Republican in 2014. This year, they’ve thrown their support behind Democrat Sara Gideon” at Huff Post.

Read “Don Jr. cost taxpayers at least $75,000 with hunting trip to Mongolia to shoot the world's largest sheep” at Daily Mail.

Read “The Case of Reality Winner” at Texas Orator.

Read “Georgia Betrays Its Voters Again” at The New Yorker.

Read “FCC failed to monitor Chinese telecoms for almost 20 years: Senate report” at Ars Technica.

Read “A Closer Look: The CARES Act Sent You a $1,200 Check but Gave Millionaires and Billionaires Far More” at Pro Publica.”

Read “Outsider Tapped in Flynn Case Calls Justice Dept. Reversal a ‘Gross Abuse’ of Power A former federal judge said that the attorney general gave special treatment to a presidential ally, undermining public confidence in the rule of law” at New York Times.

Read “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Denies Impropriety in Firing State Department Watchdog” at Time.

Read “Zoom closed account of U.S.-based Chinese activist “to comply with local law” at Axios.

Read “Fed Officials Project No Rate Increases Through 2022 Central bank says it will maintain current pace of asset purchases to sustain growth” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Trump administration proposes toughest asylum rules yet” at Axios. Under new asylum rules, the U.S. will now reject asylum seekers looking for protection from: - terrorists - gangs - 'rouge' government officials It's now effectively near-impossible to receive asylum in the U.S.

Read “As Trump Administration Restricts Legal Immigration, It’s Expanding A Class of Vulnerable Guest Workers. Farmworker and labor advocates say these workers are among the most exploited in the country” at The Appeal.

Read “Tom Morello, Serj Tankian Address Disillusioned Fans Who’ve Just Learned Their Music Is Political at Stereogum. And read my Tweet: “I just don't understand all these people who somehow thought a band called Rage Against The Machine would support their "Conservative" worldview. I would ask: "Who are these people," but unfortunately, they all drive big trucks with blue-stripe license plates in my neighborhood.”

Read “Sex Pistols' John Lydon Reveals He's Now a Full-Time Carer for His Wife with Alzheimer's "For me, the real person is still there. That person I love is still there every minute of every day, and that is my life" at Exclaim!

Read “90% of Independent Music Venues Could Close Due to COVID-19 The National Independent Venue Association is asking Congress for longterm financial assistance” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Dalai Lama to Release Album of Teachings and Mantras, Shares First Song “Compassion”: Listen” at Pitchfork.

Browse “This Is How I Feel: A Playlist By Young Black Listeners We asked: Is there one song helping you address your feelings right now?” at NPR.

Read “Third Man Records Unearth Original Stooges Lineup’s Final Concert for Live LP Live at Goose Lake: August 8th, 1970, featuring a full Fun House performance, marks bassist Dave Alexander’s last gig with band” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Watch Flaming Lips Perform “Race for the Prize” in Bubbles on Colbert The entire band and a live audience are all in the same room, and they’re all in individual bubbles” at Pitchfork.

Read “‘We Are Regretful And Embarrassed’: Lady Antebellum Changes Its Name To Lady A” at Pittsburgh CBS.

Read “The Power and Necessity of African American Literature” at Christ and Pop Culture.

Read “The Underground Kitchen That Funded the Civil Rights Movement Georgia Gilmore’s cooking fueled the Montgomery bus boycott” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “Planned Obsolescence: The Products You Buy are Designed to Break” at ACH News.

Read “That Fresh Sea Breeze You Breathe May Be Laced With Microplastic Researchers have discovered that the ocean is burping tiny plastic particles, which then blow onto land—and potentially into your lungs” at Wired.

Read “Coca-Cola and Carlsberg Will Switch to Plant-Based Bottles That Break Down Within a Year” at My Modern Met.

Read “Arizona 'Karen' is slapped in face by woman after screaming at her to 'go back to your own country' in racist rant at gas station” at The Daily Mail.

Read “Live Music Has Returned to Some Metro Phoenix Bars – Here’s What We Know” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Tempe Mural Memorializes Local Musicians Lost — From Chester Bennington to Doug Hopkins” at Phoenix New Times.