Dishonorable

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In an echo of events last week after the shooting, officers outside the church turn their backs on a video monitor as de Blasio speaks: photo by Shannon Stapleton/Reuters via The Guardian, 27 December 2014

Police turn backs on de Blasio at funeral of NYPD officer Rafael Ramos
Amanda Holpuch in New York via The Guardian, 27 December 2014

Hundreds of police officers turned their backs on the New York mayor Bill de Blasio on Saturday as he spoke during the funeral service for Rafael Ramos, one of two New York Police Department officers killed in an ambush in Brooklyn last week. 

Thousands of officers gathered outside Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens for the funeral, where speakers included vice-president Joe Biden, New York governor Andrew Cuomo and NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton.

Ramos and his partner, Wenjian Liu, were shot dead last Saturday by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who had posted anti-police statements on social-media. Police have said Brinsley, who killed himself, was troubled and had first shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore before travelling to Brooklyn.

At a hospital after the shooting, the police union’s president, Patrick Lynch, and others turned their backs on the mayor in a sign of disrespect. Lynch blamed the mayor then for the officers’ deaths and said he had blood on his hands, because of comments made by de Blasio in relation to protests in the city last month over the death of Eric Garner, a Staten Island man, at the hands of police in July.

“Our hearts are aching, we’re feeling this physically,” De Blasio said at the funeral, in remarks greeted inside the church with polite applause. 

“All of this city is grieving … for so many reasons but the most personal is that we’ve lost such a good man.”

 New York mayor Bill de Blasio arrives with his wife, Chirlane McCray, police commissioner Bill Bratton and his wife Rikki Klieman. De Blasio has been criticised by police unions since the shooting of officers Ramos and Liu, regarding his comments about widespread protests over police tactics, leading to concern about how he would be received at the funeral: photo by Kevin Mazur via The Guardian, 27 December 2014

Outside the church, many officers turned their backs on screens showing the service.

Asked by television reporters outside the church for comment on the officers’ decision to turn their backs, Lynch said: “The feeling is real, but today is about mourning, tomorrow is about debate.”

Pressed on the point, Lynch said: “We have to understand the betrayal that they feel.”

On Friday, the mayor briefly attended Ramos’ wake at the church in Queens. There was no noticeable reaction from officers upon his arrival, and Ramos’s family said they would welcome the mayor’s presence at the funeral.

The same day, an anonymous person paid for a an aerial sign to be flown over New York City. It read: "de Blasio, our backs have turned to you."

On Saturday, De Blasio and Lynch nodded at each other as they left the church and lined up to wait for the casket.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio leaves Christ Tabernacle Church following the funeral service for NYPD officer Rafael Ramos: photo by Mike Segar/Reuters via The Guardian, 27 December 2014

Eric Garner death: New York mayor gives personal message and calls for calm

Bill de Blasio says he taught his mixed-race son Dante how to ‘take special care’ around police officers in emotional speech in New York

Tom McCarthy in New York via The Guardian, 3 December 2014
 

 New York City mayor Bill de Blasio applied the lessons of his personal experience as he sought to forestall a moment of crisis for the city on Wednesday, in the wake of a grand jury decision not to indict a police officer in the death of Staten Island man Eric Garner.

Garner, who was black, died in July after being put in a chokehold by New York Police Department officer Daniel Pantaleo, who is white. Pantaleo has been suspended from the force pending an internal investigation. The use of chokeholds has long been banned by the department.

De Blasio, who is white, said that he and his wife, Chirlane McCray, who is black, had spent years teaching their mixed-race son, Dante de Blasio, 17, how to “take special care” around police officers.

The two “have had to [talk to] Dante for years about the dangers he may face,” de Blasio said in an emotional news conference. “Because of a history that still hangs over us, we’ve had to train him, as families have … in how to take special care in any interaction with the police officers who are there to protect him.

“There’s a history we have to overcome,” De Blasio continued. “Our history forces us to say black lives matter. It should be self-evident.”

Happy birthday and last first day of school, Dante.#BacktoSchoolNYC: image via Chirlane McCray @Chirlane, 29 June 2014

The New York police department has long denied racial profiling in its law enforcement practices, despite a finding by federal prosecutors in 2000 that the practice was routine for street crime units.

Activists in New York City, who a week earlier had assembled to protest a similar decision in the Ferguson, Missouri, death of Michael Brown, planned at least five new protests for Wednesday and Thursday after the Garner decision.

The mayor called on protesters to remain nonviolent, saying he had just met Ben Garner, Eric Garner’s father. “Eric would not have wanted violence,” the mayor quoted the father as saying.

De Blasio acknowledged the widespread discontent the grand jury decision was likely to cause.

“It’s a very emotional day for our city,” he said. “It’s a very painful day for so many people of this city.” The mayor said the country was at a crossroads, calling discrimination and inequality before the law “all our problem.”

“Anyone who believes in the values of this country should feel a call to action right now,” De Blasio said. “It is a moment that change must happen.”

Re-energized by the spirit of New Yorkers at #PrideNYC today!: image via Chirlane McCray @Chirlane, 29 June 2014

So pleased to support NYC's next generation of artists with @DoingArt2gether!: image @DoingArt2gether!: image via Chirlane McCray @Chirlane, 24 March 2014

So pleased to support NYC's next generation of artists with @DoingArt2gether!: image Can you rock this? I can rock it like this. Thanks, Daryl. #RunDMC cc: @DoingArt2gether: image via Chirlane McCray @Chirlane, 26 March 2014

Joyous how the Mermaid Parade brings out NYC's creativity!: image via Chirlane McCray @Chirlane, 21 June 2014

Mer-velous way to spend a Saturday afternoon with the family! : image via Chirlane McCray @Chirlane, 21 June 2014

Enjoyed Raisin in the Sun last night with Bill. Outstanding performances! #datenight: image via Chirlane McCray @Chirlane, 31 May 2014

A toast for 20 years: image via Chirlane McCray @Chirlane, 14 May 2014

Got to talk about my childhood and family while holding hands with my soulmate, @billdeblasio on @the viewtv today!: image via Chirlane McCray @Chirlane, 21 April 2014

In awe of our daughter's strength!: image via Chirlane McCray @Chirlane, 6 May 2014

wayne_o__OO_: wayne_o__OO_: SocialistCat: RT OpICantBreathe: DAY: 164 #EricGarner. Rest in peace. #ICantBreathe : image via wayne_o__OO_ @wayne_o__OO_, 27 December 2014

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at the podium during a press conference on Thursday to discuss the retraining of police: photo by UPI/Landov/Barcroft Media via the Guardian, 7 November 2014

New York mayor Bill de Blasio refuses to endorse Eric Garner grand jury decision

Mayor says he ‘respects the process’ of grand jury: NYPD to conduct its own inquiry into death of Eric Garner

Joanna Walters in New York via The Guardian, 7 December 2014

 

New York mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday refused to endorse a grand jury’s decision not to indict a police officer over the choking death of a man in the city last summer. De Blasio also doubled down on controversial comments he made about the risks faced by children of colour, such as his son Dante, when they encounter police officers.

Appearing on ABC, de Blasio three times refused to respond to the question of whether he respected the decision by a grand jury not to bring charges against Daniel Pantaleo, the police officer who put Staten Island resident Eric Garner in a chokehold during an arrest attempt. The decision led to large-scale protests in the city and across the country, which on Sunday continued into a fifth day. On Saturday night, violence broke out at one such demonstration, in California.

After de Blasio had deflected the question, saying “as an executive in public service” he respected “the judicial process, but …” host George Stephanopoulos interrupted to ask: “So you respect the grand jury’s decision?”

De Blasio replied, with emphasis on the last word: “I respect the process.” He went on to talk about initiating a “systemic” retraining of police officers in New York, in order to “fix the relationship between the police and the community”.

Stephanopoulos countered: “So you respect the process but not the decision?”De Blasio gave the hint of a smile but did not reply.

He said he would “absolutely cooperate” with a federal investigation now underway to establish if the police action against Garner violated his civil rights.

Appearing on different Sunday talkshows, de Blasio and New York police commissioner William Bratton attempted to put up a united front in the face of accusations from the police union last week that the mayor “threw the police under the bus” when he hinted at racism in the ranks. Bratton called de Blasio “one of the best I have ever worked with” in his long career in charge of law enforcement in a variety of cities across the US.

The mayor, however, strengthened controversial comments he made earlier this week. De Blasio, who is white, sparked controversy when he said that he and his wife Chirlane McCray, who is black, had long trained their teenage son Dante to “take special care” in any encounter with police officers.

Happy Mother's Day!: image via Chirlane McCray @Chirlane, 11 May 2014

“We have to have an honest conversation in this country about the history of racism and the problem that has caused parents to feel their children may be in danger in their dynamics with police, when in fact the police are there to protect them,” he said.

“What parents have done for decades who have children of colour, especially young men of colour, is train them to be very careful whenever they have an encounter with a police officer. It’s different for a white child. That’s just the reality of this country.”

He and McCray had lectured their son “from early on” on how to respond to the police, he said.

“We said, ‘Look, if a police officer stops you, do whatever he tells you to do. Do not move suddenly, do not reach for your cellphone,’ because, you know, sadly, there is a greater chance it might be misinterpreted if it was a young man of colour.”

De Blasio said he was striving for a day when every child could be told equally “not only are the police there to protect you but they are going to assume that the young person is an innocent, law-abiding young person”.

“I have talked to many families of colour,” he said. “They have had to have the same conversation with their sons. It’s a painful conversation. We all want to look up to figures of authority and everyone knows the police protect us. But there is that fear that there could be that one moment of misunderstanding with a young man of colour and that young man may never come back.”

People march though traffic on 10th Avenue in New York to protest the police killing of Eric Garner: photo by Michael Nagle/EPA via the Guardian, 4 December 2014

De Blasio’s comments were delivered against a backdrop of continued protests in many cities against recent incidents of police brutality and charges of a lack of accountability for police officers who have killed civilians.

De Blasio said a “rift” between law enforcement and the public was a fundamental problem that had to be overcome.

Commissioner Bratton said he disagreed with the head of his officers’ union describing de Blasio’s first comments on this subject as “throwing them under the bus”. Speaking on CBS, Bratton said the NYPD would now conduct its own internal inquiry to establish whether the officers involved in the arrest which led to the death of Eric Garner had violated department policies and procedures.

That inquiry was likely to take three to four months and would probably return a decision before the federal government concludes its civil rights investigation, Bratton said.

Asked what he thought of the dying words of Garner, who was heard on a video taken by a bystanders saying “I can’t breathe” 11 times, Bratton said: “I don’t think that anyone who watches that video is undisturbed.”

How can you NOT indict police for choking to death an unarmed man who screams '#ICantBreathe' 11 times? #Seattle: image via Team-LIBer8 @Team_LIBer8, 27 December 2014

But he then appeared to depart from de Blasio’s apparent skepticism to hint at an element of concession for the officers involved.

“It always looks awful,” he said. “We have an expression: ‘lawful but awful’. We are going to have to see if the actions were a violation of our policies and procedures.”

Both Bratton and de Blasio spoke of extensive retraining and re-equipment plans for the NYPD, including a pilot programme to test the wearing of body cameras.

“There is probably not a department in America doing more on these issues,” said Bratton.

Meanwhile an opinion poll issued by Bloomberg Politics concluded that more than half of Americans think race relations have deteriorated under the administration of Barack Obama, the first African American president.

A demonstrator in New York after the Eric Garner grand jury failure to indict: photo by Yana Paskova via The Guardian, 4 December 2014

Eric Garner death: New York mayor gives personal message and calls for calm
Bill de Blasio says he taught his mixed-race son Dante how to ‘take special care’ around police officers in emotional speech in New York

Tom McCarthy in New York via The Guardian, 3 December 2014

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio applied the lessons of his personal experience as he sought to forestall a moment of crisis for the city on Wednesday, in the wake of a grand jury decision not to indict a police officer in the death of Staten Island man Eric Garner.

Garner, who was black, died in July after being put in a chokehold by New York Police Department officer Daniel Pantaleo, who is white. Pantaleo has been suspended from the force pending an internal investigation. The use of chokeholds has long been banned by the department.

De Blasio, who is white, said that he and his wife, Chirlane McCray, who is black, had spent years teaching their mixed-race son, Dante de Blasio, 17, how to “take special care” around police officers.

The two “have had to [talk to] Dante for years about the dangers he may face,” de Blasio said in an emotional news conference. “Because of a history that still hangs over us, we’ve had to train him, as families have … in how to take special care in any interaction with the police officers who are there to protect him.

“There’s a history we have to overcome,” De Blasio continued. “Our history forces us to say black lives matter. It should be self-evident.”

The New York police department has long denied racial profiling in its law enforcement practices, despite a finding by federal prosecutors in 2000 that the practice was routine for street crime units.

Police clash with protesters on the West Side Highway in New York: photo by Yana Paskova via The Guardian, 4 December 2014

Activists in New York City, who a week earlier had assembled to protest a similar decision in the Ferguson, Missouri, death of Michael Brown, planned at least five new protests for Wednesday and Thursday after the Garner decision.

The mayor called on protesters to remain nonviolent, saying he had just met Ben Garner, Eric Garner’s father. “Eric would not have wanted violence,” the mayor quoted the father as saying.

De Blasio acknowledged the widespread discontent the grand jury decision was likely to cause.

“It’s a very emotional day for our city,” he said. “It’s a very painful day for so many people of this city.” The mayor said the country was at a crossroads, calling discrimination and inequality before the law “all our problem.”

“Anyone who believes in the values of this country should feel a call to action right now,” De Blasio said. “It is a moment that change must happen.”

nickmarleyy: RT jlombardiTTV: Thornton High School warming up in #ICantBreathe tshirts at McDipper Tournament ...: image via wayne_o__OO_ @wayne_o__OO_, 27 December 2014

'I Can't Breathe' T-shirts see high-school basketball team disinvited from event: Mendocino High School teams out of Fort Bragg tournament: Too few members of girls team promised not to wear the shirts

Associated Press in San Francisco Saturday 27 December 2014

A high school basketball tournament on the Northern California coast has become the latest flashpoint in nationwide protests over police killings of unarmed black men.

The boys and girls varsity basketball teams from Mendocino High School were disinvited from a tournament that starts on Monday at nearby Fort Bragg High, because of concerns players would wear T-shirts with the words “I Can’t Breathe” printed on them while warming up.

Several professional basketball players have worn “I Can’t Breathe” shirts during pre-game warmups, as have stars of the NFL. The slogan refers to the final word of Eric Garner, a New York man who died after being placed in an illegal chokehold during an arrest by NYPD officers in July. A grand jury decision not to indict the officer involved led to widespread protests in New York last month.

The deaths of other black men at the hands of police -– most notably that of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old, in Ferguson, Missouri in August -- have also contributed to protests across the US.

Mendocino unified school district superintendent Jason Morse said the boys team was reinstated after all but one player agreed not to wear the shirts anywhere on the Fort Bragg campus during the three-day tournament, but too few girls accepted the condition for the team to field a tournament squad.

Brian Triplett, the athletic director at Fort Bragg High, did not return a call and email seeking comment. Principal Rebecca Walker issued a written statement on Friday saying school administrators respected the Mendocino teams “for paying attention to what is going on in the world around them” and that the T-shirts were being prohibited as a security precaution.

“To protect the safety and well-being of all tournament participants it is necessary to ensure that all political statements and or protests are kept away from this tournament,” wrote Walker, who said she was speaking on behalf of the athletic director and the Fort Bragg school superintendent. “We are a small school district that simply does not have the resources to ensure the safety and well-being of our staff, students and guests at the tournament should someone get upset and choose to act out.”

Mendocino varsity teams first wore the “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirts before a game with Fort Bragg on 16 December, according to the girls coach, Caedyn Feehan. The girls also wore them before games at two other tournaments and didn’t receive any blowback, Feehan said.

“I didn’t even know what it meant. I thought it was a joke about how I had conditioned them so hard,” Feehan said. “None of the administrators knew what it was or that any of them were doing it in advance. This was entirely for their cause that they had strong feelings about.”

 red white n blue land of the freeeeee #murica: image via Cal @GrayCal, 26 December 2014

Professional basketball players such as LeBron James, Derrick Rose and Kyrie Irving wore “I Can’t Breathe” shirts during warm-ups this month without repercussions from the NBA. 

After Kobe Bryant and other Lakers players wore them before a game and on the bench on 9 December, coach Byron Scott said he viewed it as a matter of “freedom of choice and freedom of speech”.

That’s how Marc Woods, whose 16-year-old son Connor plans to sit out the tournament, sees it. Connor wore the t-shirt at the 16 December game in the name of team solidarity, but “now that’s become a first amendment violation, that’s what he is fired up about”, the father said.

Woods said he was outraged by what he sees as using intimidation to silence players and fans. Fort Bragg administrators have warned spectators who plan to protest the t-shirt ban that they will be asked to leave, he said.

“It doesn’t take a lot to suppress the exchange of ideas when you put fear into it,” Woods said.

Both schools are in Mendocino County, known for redwood forests, rugged coastline and marijuana-growing, located 120 miles north of San Francisco. The student bodies at the two schools are 1% black and 50% white and 41% Hispanic at Fort Bragg, 75% white and 9% Hispanic at Mendocino.

A county sheriff’s deputy, Ricky Del Fiorentino, was killed in March by a man suspected of murder and carjacking in Eugene, Oregon. The suspect was killed by a Fort Bragg police officer.

Walker referenced Del Fiorentino’s death, saying: “We simply feel this issue is too emotionally charged to allow such a demonstration to happen in our tournament and be able to ensure the safety and well-being of all involved.”

Phoenix Suns’ Markieff Morris, left, and his brother, Marcus, warm up prior to an NBA basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks: photo by Matt York/AP via the Guardian, 27 December 2014

132 kidnapped innocent Muslims still held #Guantanamo - but none of the 'moderate Muslim scholars' lifted a finger: image via Mustho @musthom, 21 December 2014

Police-fired tear gas returned by a protester in Ferguson: photo via Ben Kesling on twitter, 18 August 2014

 My grandpa, a WWII veteran from the 79th Infantry Division, hanging his flag on the Fourth of July #Murica #America #Merica #BestCountry: image by Murica Man @AmericaWilWin, 25 December 2014

Millions of gamers could not use their PlayStation 4 after an apparent cyber-attack at Christmas: photo by Chesnot via the Guardian, 26 December 2014

The Plaza Theatre marquee during the release of “The Interview” at the Plaza Theatre, 25 December 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia: photo by Marcus Ingram via the Guardian, 26 December 2014

Sold out crowd for #TheInterview #Murica: image via Merry Szczypka @GLENszczypka, 26 December 2014

Merikka builds ARs for Santa. #Murica wtf #AnonUKRasio @topman201 @d00minator @SociologyGal @anontactic @sikkend: image via g3arh3ad @XDEVASTATEDX, 17 December 2014

This ... this is a lot of work: photo by Stephane de Sakutin/AFP via The Guardian, 26 December 2014

Or wait! There's this one  #Murica: image via Aunt Elen Ships It @LikeFedEx, 15 December 2014

Containing his enthusiasm: looks like he’ll be returning the socks you so carefully shopped and paid for: photo by Alamy via The Guardian, 26 December 2014
 

Synthetica: A New Continent of Plastic: Fortune, October 1940 (via Limited, Inc.)



Brown Boobies (Sula leucogaster) sitting on marine debris, Green Island, Kure Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: photo by Dr. Dwayne Meadows, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service; image by Telim tor, 2009

Check out @Metric's new iPad app for their album #Synthetica. Download the video!: image via Invidy @TeamInvidy, 13 November 2013



Plastic waste on a beach, North Sea: photo by M. Buschmann, February 2007



At the Omaha Zoo. Damn straight. #Murica #America #Merica #BestCountry: image via Murica Man @AmericaWillWin, 26 December 2014

Senator @MarkUdall Please Make History by Releasing the #Torture Report via @NationofChange: image via US Day of Rage, 26 December 2014

US #torture without orders & hidden in plain sight: image via AmnestyInternational @amnesty, 23 December 2014