On May 25, 2020, the nation ignited after a bystander posted a horrific video of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes.
Now the movement to uplift Black lives, and to defund and dismantle police departments where officers disproportionately kill and brutalize African-American men and women, has grown to a point where it can no longer be ignored.
We’ll hear from activists in Minneapolis, mourners in Houston, and we’ll go to our archives for an interview with the brother of Yuvette Henderson. She was killed by Emeryville police in 2015.
Special thanks to Davey D of Hard Knock Radio, and Rebecca McDonald from BFRESH Productions for allowing us to use field recordings from Minneapolis.
Featuring:
Stephen Jackson, George Floyd’s friend and former NBA player
Valarie Castile, BLM activist and Philando Castile’s mother
Lisa Bender, President of the Minneapolis City Council
Alicia Garza, Co-founder of Black Lives Matter
Brooke Williams, George Floyd’s niece
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas
Jamison Robinson, Yuvette Henderson’s brother
Rev. Al Sharpton
- Executive Director: Sonya Green
- Staff Producers: Anita Johnson, Monica Lopez, Salima Hamirani
- Web updates: Sabine Blaizin
- Director of Production Initiatives and Distribution: Lisa Rudman
Special thanks for recordings:
- Davey D, Hard Knock Radio
- Rebecca McDonald, BFRESH Productions
Music:
- “Black Ant”, Fater Lee
- “Arbic Tallow”, Blue Dot Sessions
- “Underwater”, Meydan
- “Surreal Johnny Ripper Remix”, Ouri
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We are presently looking for 464 new monthly donors in the next 8 days.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy