A man who is known for his encounter with a woman who called police on him at New York’s Central Park will now have his own television show.

Christian Cooper is a birdwatcher. That’s exactly what he was doing when he asked a woman, Amy Cooper, to leash her dog.

The two are not related.

The woman then called the police and said a Black man was threatening her after ask her to leash her dog.

Fast forward two years later, the avid birdwatcher will now host National Geographic’s Extraordinary Birder.

NatGeo says Christian Cooper will brave stormy seas in Alaska to look for puffins, trek into Puerto Rico to search for parrots and even scale a bridge in Manhattan to scout a falcon.

The New York birdwatcher will host six episodes.

A release date for the show has not yet been set.

NEW YORK (AP) — A co-defendant of the so-called Central Park Five, whose convictions in a notorious 1989 rape of a jogger were thrown out more than a decade later, had his conviction on a related charge overturned Monday.

Steven Lopez was exonerated in response to requests by both Lopez’s attorney and prosecutors.

Lopez was arrested along with five other Black and Latino teenagers in the rape and assault on Trisha Meili but reached a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to the lesser charge of robbing a male jogger.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told a judge Monday that a review of the case found that Lopez had pleaded guilty involuntarily “in the face of false statements” and under “immense external pressure.”

Lopez, now 48, served about three years in prison before being released in the early 1990s.

The brutal assault on Meili, a 28-year-old white investment banker who was in a coma for 12 days after the attack, was considered emblematic of New York City's lawlessness in an era when the city recorded 2,000 murders a year.

Five teenagers were convicted in the attack on Meili and served six to 13 years in prison. Their convictions were overturned in 2002 after evidence linked a convicted serial rapist and murderer, Matias Reyes, to the attack.

Prosecutors who reviewed the case had concluded the teenagers' confessions, made after hours of interrogations, were deeply flawed.

“A comparison of the statements reveals troubling discrepancies,” they wrote in court papers at the time. “The accounts given by the five defendants differed from one another on the specific details of virtually every major aspect of the crime.”

The Central Park Five, now sometimes known as the “Exonerated Five,” went on to win a $40 million settlement from the city and inspire books, movies and television shows.

Lopez has not received a settlement, and his case has been nearly forgotten in the years since he pleaded guilty to robbery in 1991 to avoid the more serious rape charge. His expected exoneration was first reported in The New York Times.

“We talk about the Central Park Five, the Exonerated Five, but there were six people on that indictment,” Bragg told the Times. “And the other five who were charged, their convictions were vacated. And it’s now time to have Mr. Lopez’s charge vacated.”

MORROW, Ga. (AP) — A specially appointed prosecutor said Tuesday that he will not pursue any charges against the Atlanta police officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks more than two years ago.

Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, announced that he won’t pursue charges against Garrett Rolfe, the white officer who shot and killed the 27-year-old Black man in June 2020.

Skandalakis was appointed last year to take over the case after a judge allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to recuse herself and her office. Willis had cited concerns about the actions of her predecessor, Paul Howard, who announced a murder charge against Rolfe less than a week after the shooting.

Police responded on June 12, 2020, to complaints of a man sleeping in a car in the drive-thru lane of a Wendy's restaurant. Police body camera video shows the two officers having a calm conversation with Brooks for more than 40 minutes. Then, when the officers told Brooks he'd had too much to drink to be driving and tried to arrest him, Brooks resisted in a struggle caught on dash camera video. Brooks grabbed a Taser from one of the officers and fled, firing it at Rolfe as he ran. Rolfe fired his gun, and an autopsy found that Brooks was shot twice in the back.

The two officers' lawyers have said their actions were justified and both were released on bond.

The shooting happened against the backdrop of heightened tensions and protests nationwide in wake of the death of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer in Minneapolis less than three weeks earlier.

Sometimes-violent protests over Floyd's death had largely subsided in Atlanta, but Brooks' killing set off a new round of demonstrations against police brutality. Police Chief Erika Shields resigned less than 24 hours after Brooks died. Protesters set fire to the Wendy's restaurant, which was later demolished.

Rolfe was fired a day after the shooting, but his dismissal was overturned in May 2021 by the Atlanta Civil Service Board. The board found that the city failed to follow its own procedures for disciplinary actions.

Five days after Brooks was killed, then-Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard held a dramatic news conference to announce charges against Rolfe and Brosnan. Rolfe's charges included felony murder, aggravated assault and violation of his oath. Brosnan was charged with aggravated assault and violating his oath.

Two months later, Howard lost the Democratic primary in his bid for reelection. Just weeks after taking office in January 2021, his successor, Fani Willis, asked Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr to reassign the case.

Willis, who has since gained national attention for her investigation into whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to influence the outcome of the 2020 election in Georgia, cited concerns about Howard's actions.

Howard’s conduct, “including using video evidence in campaign television advertisements,” may have violated Georgia Bar rules, Willis argued in a letter to Carr. She also noted that Carr had asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to look into whether Howard improperly issued grand jury subpoenas in the Rolfe case. Howard has denied wrongdoing.

Noah Pines, an attorney for Rolfe, had also filed a motion to disqualify the Fulton County district attorney's office from the case.

Carr initially refused to reassign the case, but in July 2021 appointed Skandalakis to take it over after Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Christopher Brasher found there was a conflict of interest and granted a request from Willis to recuse her office.

More than 8,000 people were victims of bias-motivated incidents in 2021, according to the FBI.

The crimes varied from intimidation and assault to rape and murder.

The FBI says 64.8% of the victims were targeted because of their race or ethnicity and 15.6% were targeted because of sexual orientation. Biases toward religions, gender identity and disability were also contributing factors in smaller percentages, the FBI said.

Most of the incidents, 32%, happened at or near a person's home. Nearly 17% occurred on highways, roads, alleys, streets and sidewalks,

The FBI says most of the suspects, 56.1%, are white. Black or African Americans accounted for 21.3% of the suspects. American Indians or Alaska Natives followed with 1% each.

The FBI's data, however, appears incomplete. For 2021, the data came from 11,834 participating law enforcement agencies. In 2020, the FBI received information from more than 15,000 agencies.

The FBI blames a shift in how data is collected. It says some law enforcement agencies, some large, didn't transition to a new data collection system in time to be represented in the report.

"As more agencies transition to the NIBRS data collection with continued support from the Justice Department, hate crime statistics in coming years will provide a richer and more complete picture of hate crimes nationwide," the FBI stated.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The jury at suburban Minneapolis police officer Kim Potter’s manslaughter trial for the killing of Black motorist Daunte Wright has completed its third day of deliberations without reaching a verdict.

The jury weighing the white former Brooklyn Center officer’s fate broke at around 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Unlike the first two days, jurors had no questions for Judge Regina Chu.

On Tuesday, they asked Chu what they should do if they couldn’t agree on verdicts.

She told them they should continue deliberating.

Potter is charged with two counts of manslaughter in the killing of Wright during an April 11 traffic stop.

She has said she meant to use her Taser on Wright but used her gun instead.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A police officer says he would have given Ahmaud Arbery a warning for trespassing inside the unfinished home from which the young Black man was seen running before he was chased and fatally shot.

Glynn County police Officer Robert Rash testified Friday he had been looking for Arbery, whose identity wasn't known until he was killed, after the owner of the home under construction shared security camera videos of him inside the home.

Rash said none of the videos showed Arbery stealing.

Greg and Travis McMichael and a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, are being tried on murder charges in Arbery's death.

Defense attorneys say they suspected Arbery was a burglar and Travis McMichael shot him in self-defense.

Bryan's defense attorney started the day with an apology. On Thursday, he objected to Rev. Al Sharpton attending the trial to support the victim's family.

"We don’t want any more Black pastors coming in here or Jesse Jackson, or whoever was in here earlier this week, sitting with the victim’s family trying to influence a jury in this case," defense attorney Kevin Gough said.

Gough told the court Friday that his statements were too broad.

"I will follow up with a more specific motion on Monday, putting those concerns in the proper context. And my apologies to anyone who may have been inadvertently offended," he said.

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — The jury that will decide Kyle Rittenhouse’s fate will be allowed to consider some lesser charges if they opt to acquit him on some of the original counts prosecutors brought.

After fierce debate between prosecutors and attorneys for Rittenhouse, Judge Bruce Schroeder said he would issue final rulings on Saturday about which lesser charges the jury could consider.

Rittenhouse faces five felony charges stemming from the shooting amid protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

The jury was not in the courtroom for Friday's debate. They will return Monday for closing arguments.

This week on the Hear Cincinnati podcast, host Brian Niesz is joined by community reporter Lucy May and senior manager of enterprise/investigative Meghan Goth to discuss the Cincinnati Juneteenth Festival going virtual for 2020, a petition for University of Cincinnati to remove Marge Schott's name from a stadium, the 'Black Lives Matter' mural downtown and more.

Later, at 23:20, Brian is joined by WCPO reporter Monique John to explain what Lincoln Heights' history of economic exclusion and police corruption reveals about what she described as America's "watershed moment in reckoning with police violence."

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CINCINNATI — A celebration of black members of the local LGBTQ community kicked off Thursday night with a film festival. Like similar events across the country, Cincinnati Black Pride is virtual this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the eyes of the nation focused on racial injustice, Black Pride members said they’re doing all they can to be seen and heard.

“I think the community is really grateful that we didn’t give up on Pride this year,” Cincinnati Black Pride co-founder Tim’m West said.

When the pandemic seemed to erase life as we knew it, the organization adopted the theme "still here." The slogan applies to both COVID-19 and in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“I think the people that are here now are demanding that we be visible, that we show up fully as black people and as LGBT people,” West said.

West said even without the ability to come together physically, more people are realizing the importance of how the gay rights and Black Lives Matter movements intersect.

“I think we experience that in the gay community, where there is racism unfortunately, but people are working through that and we experience it in the Black community when we’re told to show up, but not show up fully,” he said.

West said black members of the LGBTQ community simultaneously navigate both worlds and face both sets of challenges. He shared an example of how he was racially profiled during a recent traffic stop where backup was called and guns were drawn.

“That reality is real for me,” he said. “Those people may or may not have known that I was a part of the LGBT community, but I walk outside every day as a Black man and experience what other Black men experience.”

West said that experience, though painful, makes him and others qualified to help move society forward.

“If there are keys to what will heal our city and bring it together, you might want to look at people at that intersection,” he said.

West said he hopes Cincinnati Black Pride will be a chance to grow both movements and signal to people citywide that those of all genders, sexual orientations and races belong here.

“I think still here is a theme of resilience,” West said. “I think Cincinnati has always had a resilient Black, LGBT community. It’s always been invisible in years past and I think that is the thing in Cincinnati that is changing right now.”

Thursday’s film conference is available online at the organization’s website. You can also learn about more events happening the weekend of June 25-28.

The Portland (Oregon) Police Department said that 49 people were arrested stemming from what the police called “riots” in Oregon's largest city over the weekend.

Sunday marked the 74^th day of unrest in Portland following the Memorial Day death of George Floyd who died while in Minneapolis Police custody. The period of unrest included federal agents engaging with protesters at the city’s federal courthouse, which prompted nationwide scrutiny over the use of federal officers for domestic law enforcement purposes.

Among the demonstrators arrested over the weekend was Demetria Hester, a prominent Black Lives Matter activist who leads the group Mothers United for Black Lives Matter. The 46-year-old demonstrator was arrested Sunday on charges of disorderly conduct and interfering with a peace officer.

Hester testified in a hate crime case earlier this year against a man involved in a sentenced train attack, saying that she had been attacked by self-described white nationalist Jeremy Christian before the deadly incident. Christian wound up be sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of killing two people in a hate crime.

Friday night marked the most arrests from the weekend, 24, and the injury of an Oregon State Police Trooper, who police said was wounded from being struck in the head by a rock.

The department said that there were two separate gatherings in the city on Friday. The first, the police say, was a peaceful demonstration that officers did not interact with. But a second gathering nearby, the department said, began to turn violent.

On Saturday, a second protest took place and lasted peacefully for four hours, according to police. But tensions began to rise after the group marched, and vehicles began to illegally block intersections.

Some in the crowd then set fire to Portland’s police union building, prompting the department’s officers to engage with the crowd.

“People within the crowd committed crimes when they erected a fence, pushed dumpsters into the street to block traffic, set a dumpster on fire, vandalized the PPA office with spray paint, and destroyed security cameras,” the Portland Police said. “At 11:35 p.m., people within the crowd broke the window to the PPA Office, unlawfully entered, and started a fire, committing the crimes of criminal mischief, burglary, and attempted arson.”

On Sunday, an additional 16 arrests were conducted as two Portland officers were injured by a mortar.

A statue honoring George Floyd in New York City’s Union Square Park was vandalized on Sunday, police said.

According to police, a video showed an unidentified man on a skateboard throwing paint on the statue at approximately 10 a.m. then fleeing. Nearby statues of late Congressman John Lewis and Breonna Taylor, a Louisville, Kentucky, woman shot and killed by police last year, apparently weren’t touched.

Police have not released the video.

Sunday's act wasn't the first example of vandalism to the statue memorializing Floyd, whose killing at the hands of police in Minneapolis last year galvanized a racial justice movement across the country.

The statue was unveiled on the Juneteenth holiday in a spot on Flatbush Avenue, in Brooklyn, and it was vandalized five days later with black paint and marked with an alleged logo of a white supremacist group.

Members of the group that installed the statue cleaned it, and local residents and one of Floyd’s brothers gathered in July as it was prepared to move to Union Square, in the heart of Manhattan.

KENOSHA — A Kenosha police officer will not be charged in the August shooting of Jacob Blake, the Kenosha County District Attorney announced Tuesday.

The District Attorney made the announcement at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. D.A. Michael Graveley said his office would not recommend charges against Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey.

Sheskey shot Blake multiple times in the back on Aug. 23. Officers had responded to the scene near 40th and 28th Street on a "domestic incident" call.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is the investigating agency, said Sheskey and several other Kenosha officers were attempting to arrest Blake at the time. Blake walked away from officers and was attempting to get into an SUV at the scene when he was shot.

According to officials, Blake admitted there was a weapon in the vehicle, but it was unclear if he was reaching for it or not during the incident. Prior to the shooting, Blake was tased twice by Sheskey and another officer.

An investigation launched by the DOJ's Division of Criminal Investigation following the shooting has since found that Blake admitted to having a knife in his possession during the incident. DCI agents later found a knife in the driver’s side floorboard of Blake's vehicle. No other weapons were found.

Sheskey, Officer Vincent Arenas, and Officer Brittany Meronek were placed on administrative leave pending the investigation.

Gov. Tony Evers on Monday mobilized 500 members of the Wisconsin National Guard to Kenosha.

In a statement, the governor said that local authorities requested the deployment. The city's Common Council also authorized an emergency declaration, which allows Mayor John Antaramian emergency authority, set to kick in once a charging decision is made.

The Aug. 23 shooting sparked nationwide protests, some turning violent.

Graveley said none of the officers involved in the shooting will face charges. He also added that Blake wouldn't be charged.

“We are immensely disappointed in Kenosha District Attorney Michael Graveley’s decision not to charge the officers involved in this horrific shooting," said Blake's attorneys in a statement. "We feel this decision failed not only Jacob and his family, but the community that protested and demanded justice."

Attorneys Ben Crump, Patrick A. Salvi and B'Ivory LaMarr said Graveley's decision "further destroys trust in our justice system."

“Officer Sheskey’s actions sparked outrage and advocacy throughout the country, but the District Attorney’s decision not to charge the officer who shot Jacob in the back multiple times, leaving him paralyzed, further destroys trust in our justice system," said the attorneys. "This sends the wrong message to police officers throughout the country. It says it is OK for police to abuse their power and recklessly shoot their weapon, destroying the life of someone who was trying to protect his children."

This story originally reported on TMJ4.com.

Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day might have a different meaning for many this year.

That's because, in 2020, the U.S. faced racial tensions similar to those King experienced during his lifetime.

America also said farewell to civil rights activist and King's friend John Lewis last year.

On Monday, many will commemorate the federal holiday by participating in a day of service — just like King and Lewis did when they were alive.

President-elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris both participated in days of service Monday, two days ahead of their inauguration.

MLK Day is celebrated each year on the third Monday in January. It became a national celebration on Jan. 20, 1986. The declaration was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.

On Aug. 23, 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday and Service Act.

To remember the icon, best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience, many usually visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in D.C.

However, the National Mall is closed through Thursday due to security concerns following the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol building and ahead of Wednesday's inauguration.

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed most of the claims in a lawsuit filed by Whole Foods Market employees who alleged the supermarket chain discriminated and retaliated against them when it barred them from wearing Black Lives Matter face coverings .

More than two dozen current and former workers from 11 stores said in the July lawsuit that Whole Foods violated federal law that bars discrimination based on race.

But a federal judge Friday said because company did not single out the workers based on race, it did not discriminate.

Whole Foods said it agreed with the decision.

A lawyer for the employees pledged to keep pursuing the case.

CHULA VISTA, Calif. — Cities across the country are answering calls for police reform, banning controversial tactics, and slashing police budgets.

A Southern California police department is taking a different approach, using drones to earn the public's trust.

“Most agencies that have drone programs, they have the traditional drone in the trunk, where the officer responds to a call for service. They see a drone may be needed, they launch it," said Captain Don Redmond, a support operations captain for the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) "We wanted to be proactive in how we responded with our drones."

Redmond says they're using drones as a tool for de-escalation, arming officers with information. Drones are only launched in response to calls for service; surveillance is prohibited.

“We have heard the national message that law enforcement needs to do things differently," said Capt. Redmond.

The department spent years developing its Drone as First Responder (DFR) program. They formed a committee in 2015, studying best practices, policies, and procedures for the use of drones in law enforcement.

“We had a drone program for about a year before we ever bought a drone. We reached out to the public, we reached out to the ACLU, we developed policies," said Capt. Redmond.

CVPD was the only law enforcement agency selected for the FAA's Integration Pilot Project, a federal initiative designed to help integrate drones into the National Air Space.

“We are the only agency in the entire country to be staging drones and launching them for calls for service, for emergencies," said Capt. Redmond.

Perched on tall buildings, the drones are prepped and ready to respond to calls. Like a self-driving car, the drone can get to a scene with the push of a button.

The drone is often the first to arrive, live streaming video to officers in real-time.

Agent Matt Hardesty, a DFR teleoperator, decides which calls to send the drone to.

“I can hear something, the urgency, and can typically be on scene in 120 seconds, many times before the call is typed and entered into the dispatch center," said Agent Hardesty.

A 27-year veteran of the force, officers in the field rely on his experience to get the most accurate information in fast-moving situations.

“It is probably by far the best de-escalation tool I’ve ever seen in my career," said Hardesty. "We get calls of people possibly armed, and with the powerful camera I’m able to zoom in and be able to see if their hands are empty and be able to let officers on the ground know.”

In 2019, the drone responded to a report of a man waving a handgun outside a taco shop. Within 90 seconds, Agent Hardesty had eyes on the suspect.

Through the live stream, officers confirmed the suspect was holding what looked to be a gun but saw he was sitting down and not threatening anyone.

“As we watched him with the drone footage, and the officers watched, they soon saw him take that handgun and light a cigarette and we realized it was a lighter," said Capt. Redmond. "So, officers immediately made contact. No guns were drawn. No shooting.”

The department launches drones from two locations and is working with the FAA to establish three more. Redmond says this would give the department 100 percent coverage of the city.

The agency is also the first to live stream 911 calls directly to officers.

“As opposed to getting the paraphrase of what the caller told the call-taker, who then tells the dispatcher, who paraphrases it and gives the officers just a small amount of information," said Redmond.

Officers get information quickly and can make decisions based on what they see and hear minutes before arriving at a call.

Agencies in the U.S., and around the world, are now looking to adopt the drone program. But innovations designed to rebuild trust can also sow mistrust in communities.

More than just technology, agencies must invest in transparency, which Redmond says has been the key to their program's success.

This month, Hearst Television is celebrating Black history by having courageous conversations. The fight for civil rights and justice goes back generations and has looked different each decade. We’re speaking with community leaders, elders – those who have lived through victories and troubled times, to talk about their experiences, and compare them with what we still struggle with today.

Joyce Jackson is a journalism and civil rights pioneer.

Jackson was a part of the Katz Drugstore sit-in in Oklahoma in 1958 — the beginning of a movement that changed the country forever.

Jackson also became the first Black woman on television in Oklahoma, at Oklahoma City's KOCO-TV.

Jason Hackett, a reporter for sister station KOCO, spoke with Jackson about her past, the country's present and what lies ahead in the future.

“Where I first started in television, I was a gopher, Jackson said, noting that John Harrison, the then-vice president of KOCO, hired her as a part-time receptionist, tour guide and as his assistant."

We asked Jackson how she ended up being on-air and in front of the camera.

“Well, I had been here about six months, and John called me in the office and he said, ‘Have you ever thought of being on television?’ And I said no. They brought me to the studio, put me in front of the cameras, and as much as I run my mouth, I couldn’t talk. They kept asking me questions and then the tears started rolling down,” Jackson said. “Yes, I cried. Because I was just afraid, you know, afraid of the unknown. “

Jackson was a Black voice in a sea of white voices at that time. We asked her if she felt the weight of those expectations of people looking up to her.

“Yes, absolutely. But of course, I had a lot of detractors. We had a lot of calls to get that person off the air. Why do you have that person on the air?” Jackson said. “But the community was very supportive. And so I became a voice to the community.”

Jackson talked with Hackett about the responsibility of journalists when it comes to reporting on race – what we are doing right and what we could be doing better.

“I think wherever you come from, you should make a point to know the community, to find out who the people are in the community so that you are, one, accepted, and two, that they will trust you with their story,” Jackson said. “I think there should be a better effort to reach the community and to make sure that the community is being included in the story of what’s going on in the nation because right now there’s a lot going on. And, of course, growing up, there was a lot going on.”

Jackson was involved in sit-ins in Oklahoma with civil rights leader Clara Luper. And now we’re seeing a civil rights movement again as people march in the streets and fight for justice and fight for inclusion.

“Aug. 19, 1958, is when they started the march downtown Oklahoma City to do a sit-in. And it was always non-violent and Miss Luper had us trained to deal with whatever would come at us,” Jackson said. “I never would imagine that in this day and time we would still be dealing with our civil rights.”

Jackson said we are still fighting.

“It just saddens you that someone running down the street for exercise can be killed. Some kid playing in the park can be killed. A woman driving by herself on the highway and not complying or talking back can be killed,” Jackson said. “All the things that Miss Luper told us about the color of your skin and that you were equal and that you are as… Sometimes it makes me sad and it makes me cry sometimes that here we are, still trying to get justice and trying to be treated equally and it’s all because of the color of our skin.”

We asked Jackson what she thinks the future hold for those fighting for justice in America.

“I think we need to go back to the things that we’re taught as little kids, to be kind to each other. To respect each other. To care about each other. Dr. Martin Luther King always said love triumphs all. And that’s what we need to do,” Jackson said. “We think that we’re so different that we’re trying to overpower each other. We can’t go back. We will not go back to a time where we were subservient and placed in situations where we did not have a voice. Today, everyone has a voice. And we need to use it.”

“You paved the way for what I’m able to do right now, stand there at that desk and deliver the news every morning,” Hackett said, thanking Jackson for giving us the opportunity to speak with her. “I want to say I appreciate that and appreciate you and the path you paved for kids like me, that grew up wanting to be journalists to be able to have this opportunity now, so thank you very much.”

RICHMOND, Va. — Duron Chavis is trying to right an environmental wrong in his neighborhood that’s been generations in the making.

In Richmond’s Southside neighborhood, heat radiates from the asphalt and relief is hard to find. For the last five years, Chavis has been building community gardens as a way to rectify that, but he says the way his neighborhood is set up today, was no mistake.

"What we've decided to do and what the work that we enjoy doing is work. To remedy that neglect and that discrimination," Chavis said.

Starting in the 1930s, banks would "redline" nieghborhoods that it determined would be risky to give out loans to. This practice had a lot to do with race, as the main factor in determing which neighborhood would be redlined was whether or not the majority of its population was Black.

Southside is one of the neighborhoods that was redlined.

This isn’t just a Richmond problem, 200 American cities had neighborhoods that were redlined. Today, the majority of those redlined neighborhoods are primarily Black, Latino, and low-income.

According to research done at the nearby University of Richmond, formerly redlined neighborhoods are on average five degrees hotter and can be up to 20 degrees hotter than neighborhoods that weren’t.

Because of a lack of investments over decades, formerly redlined neighborhoods have less parks and trees and more asphalt and buildings - leaving folks who live there more susceptible to heat-related illness and impacts of climate change. This is called the Urban Heat Island effect.

"What does that say when the neighborhood that you lived in, all the people who look like you and there's all this, like, all this abandoned property, all of this just willful, benign neglect," said Chavis. "But then you go across the bridge onto another side of town and you see just all of the things and but none of those folks look like you. I think that that does something to the consciousness of a people."

A few streets over from Broad Rock, hidden behind kudzu and chain link, is a dirt path that will one day soon lead to a brand new green space.

"It's part of a realization of how past actions have led to current realities," said Ryan Rinn, the business services manager from Richmond's Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities.

When the city of Richmond saw the data on the heat and green space disparity, they put together a team and made it their mission to make sure everyone is within a 10-minute walk of a park.

"What I think more green space coming into the Southside will show is that we value the people that live here and we want people to enjoy the space right outside their front door," said Javonne Bowles, a community advocate with Virgina Community Voice.

Bowles is a part of the on-the-park initiative, making sure the Southside has a voice in its creation. She says while there’s excitement around the project, the skepticism of some neighbors can’t be ignored.

"There has been a lot of broken promises, particularly in the Eighth and the Ninth District of South Richmond," she said.

"However, a lot of people are also grateful for the opportunity for people to see, again, that there is something beautiful already right here in Southside of Richmond that we can take advantage of," Bowles continued.

Addressing systemic wrongs that were put in motion generations ago takes time, but it also takes care and while neighbors like Chavis put in the work, he also hopes the care he and others put into these spaces catches on.

"Spaces like this create the common ground for folks to love up on each other, you know, build relationships with each other, and do something for each other that I don't feel like any other space of social justice allows us to do," he said.

MINNEAPOLIS —

Warning: This live video may contain violent and/or disturbing images. Viewer discretion is advised.

A former Minneapolis police officer went on trial Monday in the death of George Floyd, which sparked outrage across the U.S. and beyond after bystander video showed Derek Chauvin press his knee on Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes as the Black man went limp.

The judge began by instructing the jury about its duties and about courtroom procedures ahead of opening statements.

A jury of 14 people will hear the case — eight who are white and six who are Black or multiracial, according to the court. Two of the 14 will be alternates. The judge has not said which ones will be alternates and which ones will deliberate the case.

Legal experts said they expected prosecutors to play the video to the jury early on.

"If you’re a prosecutor you want to start off strong. You want to frame the argument — and nothing frames the argument in this case as much as that video," said Jeffrey Cramer, a former federal prosecutor and managing director of Berkeley Research Group in Chicago.

Floyd, 46, was declared dead after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes. He held his position even as Floyd's "I can't breathe" cries faded and he went limp as he was handcuffed and lying on his stomach on the pavement. Chauvin, 45, is charged with unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.

Almost all of the jurors selected during more than two weeks of questioning said they had seen at least parts of the video, and several acknowledged it gave them at least a somewhat negative view of Chauvin. But they said they could set that aside.

Outside the courthouse Monday ahead of opening statements, Floyd family attorney Ben Crump said the trial would be a test of "whether America is going to live up to the Declaration of Independence." And he blasted the idea that it would be a tough test for jurors.

"For all those people that continue to say that this is such a difficult trial, that this is a hard trial, we refute that," he said. "We know that if George Floyd was a white American citizen, and he suffered this painful, tortuous death with a police officer’s knee on his neck, nobody, nobody, would be saying this is a hard case."

The trial is expected to last about four weeks at the courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, which has been fortified with concrete barriers, fencing, and barbed and razor wire. City and state leaders are determined to prevent a repeat of damaging riots that followed Floyd’s death, and National Guard troops have already been mobilized.

The key questions at trial will be whether Chauvin caused Floyd’s death and whether his actions were reasonable.

For the unintentional second-degree murder charge, prosecutors have to prove Chauvin’s conduct was a "substantial causal factor" in Floyd’s death, and that Chauvin was committing felony assault at the time. For third-degree murder, they must prove that Chauvin’s actions caused Floyd’s death, and were reckless and without regard for human life. The manslaughter charge requires proof that Chauvin caused Floyd’s death through negligence that created an unreasonable risk.

Unintentional second-degree murder is punishable by up to 40 years in prison in Minnesota, with up to 25 years for third-degree murder, but sentencing guidelines suggest that Chauvin would face 12 1/2 years in prison if convicted on either charge. Manslaughter has a maximum 10-year sentence.

Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, was expected to use his opening statement tell jurors that medical testimony and use of force experts will show a different view. Nelson has made clear that the defense will make an issue of Floyd swallowing drugs before his arrest, seeking to convince the jury that he was at least partially responsible for his death.

The county medical examiner's autopsy noted fentanyl and methamphetamine in Floyd's system, but listed his cause of death as "cardiopulmonary arrest, complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression."

"This case to us is a slam dunk, because we know the video is the proof, it's all you need," Floyd's brother Philonise said Monday on NBC's "Today" show. "The guy was kneeling on my brother’s neck ... a guy who was sworn in to protect. He killed my brother in broad daylight. That was a modern-day lynching."

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. —

Warning: The above video may be disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

Police fired tear gas and stun grenades Monday night as a crowd gathered to protest the killing of a Black man by a police officer in a Minneapolis suburb.

Gunshots could be heard during the demonstrations, though it is unclear where they were being fired.

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Protesters were "launching bottles, fireworks, bricks and other projectiles at public safety officials," according to a tweet from Operation Safety Net (OSN), a joint effort of local entities to ensure the safety of the public during the trial of Derek Chauvin, being held about 10 miles away from the location in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.

It was the second night of protests after 20-year-old Daunte Wright was killed by a police officer, identified by authorities as Officer Kim Potter, during a routine traffic stop. A curfew was in effect for Brooklyn Center and police arrested those in violation who ignored dispersal orders, according to Minnesota Operation Safety Net.

By 11 p.m., most of the protesters had left the scene around the police station, according to witnesses.

The police officer who fatally shot Wright during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb apparently intended to fire a Taser, not a handgun, as the man struggled with police, the city's police chief said Monday.

Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon described the shooting death Sunday of 20-year-old Daunte Wright as "an accidental discharge." It happened as police were trying to arrest Wright on an outstanding warrant. The shooting sparked violent protests in a metropolitan area already on edge because of the trial of the first of four police officers charged in George Floyd's death.

"I'll Tase you! I'll Tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!" the officer is heard shouting on her body cam footage released at a news conference. She draws her weapon after the man breaks free from police outside his car and gets back behind the wheel.

After firing a single shot from her handgun, the car speeds away, and the officer is heard saying, "Holy (expletive)! I shot him."

President Joe Biden urged calm on Monday, following a night where officers in riot gear clashed with demonstrators. The president said he watched the body camera footage.

"We do know that the anger, pain and trauma amidst the Black community is real," Biden said from the Oval Office. But, he added, that "does not justify violence and looting."

The governor instituted another dusk-to-dawn curfew, and law enforcement agencies stepped up their presence across the Minneapolis area. The number of Minnesota National Guard troops was expected to more than double to over 1,000 by Monday night.

While dozens of officers in riot gear and troops guarded the Brooklyn Center police station, more than 100 protesters chanted Wright's name and hoisted signs that read "Why did Daunte die?" and "Don't shoot." Some passing cars flew Black Lives Matter flags out of their windows and honked in support.

Organizers from the Movement for Black Lives, a national coalition of more than 150 Black-led political and advocacy groups, pointed to Wright's killing as yet another reason why cities must take up proposals for defunding an "irreparably broken, racist system."

Wright "should not have had his life ripped from him last night. The fact that police killed him just miles from where they murdered George Floyd last year is a slap in the face to an entire community who continues to grieve," said Karissa Lewis, the coalition's national field director.

Gannon said at a news conference that the officer made a mistake, and he released the body camera footage less than 24 hours after the shooting.

The footage showed three officers around a stopped car, which authorities said was pulled over because it had expired registration tags. When another officer attempts to handcuff Wright, a second officer tells Wright he's being arrested on a warrant. That's when the struggle begins, followed by the shooting. Then the car travels several blocks before striking another vehicle.

"As I watch the video and listen to the officer's command, it is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their Taser but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet," Gannon said. "This appears to me from what I viewed and the officer's reaction in distress immediately after that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright."

A female passenger sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the crash, authorities said. Katie Wright said that passenger was her son's girlfriend.

The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was investigating.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said any decision on charges against the officer will be made by the Washington County attorney under an agreement adopted last year by several county prosecutors aimed at avoiding conflicts of interest. Freeman has been frequently criticized by activists in Minneapolis over his charging decisions involving deadly use of force by police.

Gannon would not name the officer or provide any other details about her, including her race, other than describing her as "very senior." He would not say whether she would be fired following the investigation.

"I think we can watch the video and ascertain whether she will be returning," the chief said.

Court records show Wright was being sought after failing to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and possessed a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis police in June. In that case, a statement of probable cause said police got a call about a man waving a gun who was later identified as Wright."

Wright's mother, Katie Wright, said her son called her as he was getting pulled over.

"All he did was have air fresheners in the car, and they told him to get out of the car," Wright said. During the call, she said she heard scuffling and then someone saying "Daunte, don't run" before the call ended. When she called back, her son's girlfriend answered and said he had been shot.

Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott called the shooting "deeply tragic."

"We're going to do everything we can to ensure that justice is done and our communities are made whole," he said.

Elliott later announced that the city council had voted to give his office "command authority" over the police department.

This "will streamline things and establish a chain of command and leadership," he wrote on Twitter. He also said the city manager had been fired, and that the deputy city manager would be taking over his roles.

According to the city's charter, the city manager has control of the police department. Now-former City Manager Curt Boganey, speaking earlier Monday to reporters, said the officer who shot Wright would get "due process."

Wright's family hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represented the Floyd family in its $27 million settlement with the city of Minneapolis.

"This level of lethal force was entirely preventable and inhumane," Crump said in a statement. "What will it take for law enforcement to stop killing people of color?"

Speaking before the unrest Sunday night, Wright's mother urged protesters in Brooklyn Center, a city of about 30,000 people on the northwest border of Minneapolis, to stay peaceful and focused on the loss of her son.

Biden referred to her comments on Monday, saying "we should listen to Daunte's mom calling for peace and calm." The president said he had not yet called the family but that his prayers were with them.

Shortly after the shooting, demonstrators began to gather, with some jumping atop police cars. Marchers also descended on the Brooklyn Center Police Department, where rocks and other objects were thrown at officers. About 20 businesses were broken into at the city's Shingle Creek shopping center, authorities said.

To guard against more unrest, authorities accelerated security measures planned for when the Floyd case goes to the jury. Gov. Tim Walz warned anyone who chooses to "exploit these tragedies" with violence "can rest assured that the largest police presence in Minnesota history" will be prepared to arrest law breakers.

At least a half-dozen businesses began boarding up their windows along Minneapolis' Lake Street, the scene of some of the most intense violence after Floyd's death. National Guard vehicles were deployed to a few major intersections, and a handful of soldiers in camouflage, some carrying assault-style weapons, could also be seen. Several professional sports teams in Minneapolis called off games because of safety concerns.

The trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer charged in Floyd's death, continued Monday. Floyd, a Black man, died May 25 after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against Floyd's neck. Prosecutors say Floyd was pinned for 9 minutes, 29 seconds. The judge in that case refused Monday to sequester the jury after a defense attorney argued that the panel could be influenced by the prospect of what might happen as a result of their verdict.

___

Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, Tim Sullivan in Minneapolis, Aaron Morrison in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Jonathan Lemire in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Mohamed Ibrahim is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

MINNEAPOLIS —

The defense for a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd's death was set to start presenting its case Tuesday, following 11 days of a prosecution narrative that combined wrenching video with clinical analysis by medical and use-of-force experts to condemn Derek Chauvin's actions.

Prosecutors called their final witnesses Monday, leaving only some administrative matters before they were expected to rest Tuesday. Once the defense takes over, Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson is expected to have his own experts testify that it was Floyd's drug use and bad heart, not Chauvin's actions, that killed him.

The defense hasn't said whether Chauvin will take the stand.

Prosecutors effectively wrapped up their case with George Floyd's younger brother, alternately smiling and tearing up as he recalled Floyd, followed by another look at the harrowing video and testimony from a use-of-force expert who said Chauvin's actions were clearly unreasonable.

Seth Stoughton, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, judged Chauvin's actions against what a reasonable police officer in the same situation would have done, and repeatedly found that Chauvin did not meet the test.

"No reasonable officer would have believed that that was an appropriate, acceptable or reasonable use of force," Stoughton said of the way Floyd was held facedown with a knee across his neck for up to 9 minutes, 29 seconds.

He said, too, that the failure to roll Floyd over and render aid "as his increasing medical distress became obvious" was unreasonable.

He said it was unreasonable as well to think that Floyd might harm officers or escape after he had been handcuffed to the ground. And in yet another blow to Chauvin's defense, Stoughton said a reasonable officer would not have viewed the yelling bystanders as a threat.

The matter of what is reasonable carries great weight: Police officers are allowed certain latitude to use deadly force when someone puts the officer or other people in danger. But legal experts say a key question for the jury will be whether Chauvin's actions were reasonable in those specific circumstances.

On cross-examination, Nelson questioned Stoughton's opinion that putting Floyd on his stomach in the first place was itself unreasonable and excessive.

"Reasonable minds can disagree, agreed?" Nelson asked.

"On this particular point, no," the witness said.

Earlier Monday, Philonise Floyd, 39, took the witness stand and lovingly recalled how his older brother used to make the best banana mayonnaise sandwiches, how George drilled him in catching a football, and the way George used to mark his height on the wall as a boy because he wanted to grow taller.

He shed tears as he was shown a picture of his late mother and a young George, saying, "I miss both of them."

His testimony at Chauvin's murder trial was part of an effort by prosecutors to humanize George Floyd in front of the jury and make the 46-year-old Black man more than a crime statistic. Minnesota is a rarity in allowing "spark of life" testimony during the trial stage.

Philonise Floyd described growing up in a poor area of Houston with George and their other siblings.

He said Floyd played football and deliberately threw the ball at different angles so Philonise would have to practice diving for it. "I always thought my brother couldn't throw. But he never intended to throw the ball to me," he said, smiling.

Earlier Monday, Judge Peter Cahill rejected a defense request to immediately sequester the jury, the morning after the killing of a Black man during a traffic stop triggered unrest in a suburb just outside Minneapolis.

Chauvin's attorney had argued that the jurors could be influenced by the prospect of what might happen as a result of their verdict.

But the judge said he will not sequester the jury until next Monday, when he expects closing arguments to begin. He also denied a defense request to question jurors about what they might have seen about Sunday's police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center.

The Brooklyn Center police chief later called the shooting accidental, saying the officer who fired apparently meant to draw a Taser, not a handgun.

Stoughton, the use-of-force expert, said the officers who subdued Floyd should have known he was not trying to attack them when he struggled and frantically said he was claustrophobic as they tried to put him in a squad car.

"I don't see him presenting a threat of anything," Stoughton said, adding that no reasonable officer would conclude otherwise.

Stoughton also pointed to instances when Chauvin should have been aware of Floyd's growing distress: After one officer suggested rolling Floyd onto his side, Chauvin said no. The 19-year police veteran ignored bystanders who were shouting that Floyd was not responsive. And when another officer said Floyd didn't have a pulse, Stoughton said, Chauvin's response was "Huh."

Mike Brandt, a local defense attorney closely watching the case, said Philonise Floyd's testimony was irrelevant to whether Chauvin caused Floyd's death, "but it certainly plays on the sympathy of the jury." He said Stoughton's testimony gave prosecutors an opportunity to leave the jury "with one more image of the video" of Floyd pleading for his life.

"It was the parting shot by the state," Brandt said.

Earlier Monday, Dr. Jonathan Rich, a cardiology expert from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, echoed previous witnesses in saying Floyd died of low oxygen levels from the way he was held down by police.

He rejected defense theories that Floyd died of a drug overdose or a heart condition. Floyd had fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system, high blood pressure and narrowing of the heart arteries, according to previous testimony.

"It was the truly the prone restraint and positional restraints that led to his asphyxiation," Rich said.

In fact, the expert said, "Every indicator is that Mr. Floyd had actually an exceptionally strong heart."

On cross-examination, Nelson tried to shift blame onto Floyd, asking if Floyd would have survived had he "simply gotten in the back seat of the squad car."

But Rich rejected that line of argument: "Had he not been restrained in the way in which he was, I think he would have survived that day. I think he would have gone home, or wherever he was going to go."

___

Find AP's full coverage of the death of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd

___

Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan.

In an effort to address growing tensions between police departments and the communities they serve, some departments are turning to new ways of community outreach in hopes of rebuilding trust that’s been lost.

Kelly Fenner at the Baltimore County Police Department has taken on a new role for the department. It’s a position created in hopes of reestablishing trust between the department and the community. Her title: Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer.

As a Black woman in law enforcement, this 30-year veteran of the force says she has a unique perspective on the current state of affairs.

“It put me in a unique position because I see both sides. My being a Black woman in a community that’s been underrepresented and underserved for so long,” she said.

The City of Baltimore and its surrounding counties have long had a painful, complicated history rooted in racism and conflict. Fenner’s job is to work to repair that fragile relationship between the police and the community.

“We’re just looking for progression, not perfection,” she added.

So, how does a police department work to rebuild trust right now? In Baltimore County, they’re starting inside the department by deploying various kind of empathy training.

“We have to start looking at ourselves in the mirror before we can change how we’re perceived outside the agency,” Fenner said.

Community outreach is also a pivotal part of Fenner’s job. Over the course of the past few months, she’s hosted various candid community conversations. Most are hosted online because of COVID-19, but the idea is for officers in the department to be able to listen to residents and understand what they’re thinking and feeling.

“This is a slow burn, nothing happens overnight. We did not get here overnight and it’s going to take time for that to change,” she said.

MINNEAPOLIS —

Warning: The above video may contain violent and/or disturbing images with strong language. Viewer discretion is advised.

The jury reached a verdict Tuesday at the murder trial of former Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd, the Black man who was pinned to the pavement with a knee on his neck in a case that set off a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S.

The verdict, arrived at after about 10 hours of deliberations over two days, was to be read late in the afternoon in a city on edge against the possibility of more unrest like that that erupted last spring.

The courthouse was ringed with concrete barriers and razor wire, and thousands of National Guardsmen and other law enforcement officers were brought in ahead of the verdict.

Floyd died last May after Chauvin, a 45-year-old now-fired white officer, pinned his knee on the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for about 9 1/2 minutes.

The jury, made up of six white people and six Black or multiracial people, weighed charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, with convictions on some, none or all of the charges possible. The most serious charge carries up to 40 years in prison.

Earlier in the day Tuesday, President Joe Biden weighed in by saying he believes the case is "overwhelming." Other politicians and ordinary citizens also offered their opinion.

"It shouldn't be really even questioned whether there will be an acquittal or a verdict that doesn’t meet the scale of the crime that was committed," Rep. Ilhan Omar said in Brooklyn Center, a suburb just outside Minneapolis. The congresswoman said the Chauvin case looks open-and-shut.

Guilty verdicts could mark a turning point in the fight for racial equality, she said.

"We are holding on to one another for support. Hopefully this verdict will come soon and the community will start the process of healing," Omar said.

In Washington, the president said that he had spoken to Floyd's family on Monday and "can only imagine the pressure and anxiety they’re feeling."

"They're a good family and they're calling for peace and tranquility no matter what that verdict is," Biden said. "I'm praying the verdict is the right verdict. I think it's overwhelming, in my view. I wouldn’t say that unless the jury was sequestered now."

The president has repeatedly denounced Floyd's death but previously stopped short of commenting on the trial itself.

Ahead of a verdict, some stores were boarded up in Minneapolis, the courthouse was ringed with concrete barriers and razor wire, and National Guard troops were on patrol. Last spring, Floyd’s death set off protests along with vandalism and arson in Minneapolis.

The city has also been on edge in recent days over the deadly police shooting of a 20-year-old Black man, Daunte Wright, in Brooklyn Center on April 11.

___

Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan. Associated Press video journalist Angie Wang in Atlanta and Associated Press writers Doug Glass, in Minneapolis, Mohamed Ibrahim in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed.

WASHINGTON —

President Joe Biden will take part in a remembrance of one of the nation’s darkest — and largely forgotten — moments of racial violence Tuesday when he helps commemorate the 100th anniversary of the destruction of a thriving Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Biden’s appearance, in which he marks the deaths of hundreds of Black people killed by a white mob a century ago, comes amid a national reckoning on racial justice.

Biden will be the first president to participate in remembrances of the destruction of what was known as "Black Wall Street." In 1921 — on May 31 and June 1 — some Tulsans looted and burned the Greenwood district.

He will meet privately with survivors of the massacre. Up to 300 Black Tulsans were killed, and thousands of survivors were forced for a time into internment camps overseen by the National Guard. Burned bricks and a fragment of a church basement are about all that survive today of the more than 30-block historically Black district.

During Tuesday's meeting, Biden will "convey his heartfelt gratitude for their bravery in sharing the stories of the trauma and violence that was wrought on them and their families," said White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Biden also "will explain that we need to know our history from the original sin of slavery, through the Tulsa race massacre to racial discrimination and housing in order to build common ground, to truly repair and rebuild," she said.

America's continuing struggle over race will continue to test Biden, whose presidency would have been impossible without overwhelming support from Black voters, both in the Democratic primaries and the general election.

Biden has pledged to help combat racism in policing and other areas of life following nationwide protests after George Floyd's death a year ago that reignited a national conversation about race. Floyd, a Black man, was killed by white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes.

After Chauvin was convicted in April, Biden said the country’s work was far from finished with the verdict, declaring, "We can't stop here."

He called on Congress to act swiftly to address policing reform. But he has also long projected himself as an ally of police, who are struggling with criticism about long-used tactics and training methods and difficulties in recruitment.

The Tulsa massacre has only recently entered the national discourse — and the presidential visit will put an even brighter spotlight on the event.

"This is so important because we have to recognize what we have done if we are going to be otherwise," said Eddie Glaude, chair of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University. Biden's visit, Glaude said, "has to be more than symbolic. To tell the truth is the precondition for reconciliation, and reconciliation is the basis for repair."

Biden, while visiting the Greenwood Cultural Center, is set to announce new measures to help narrow the wealth gap between Blacks and whites and reinvest in underserved communities by expanding access to homeownership and small-business ownership.

The White House said the administration will take steps to address disparities that result in Black-owned homes being appraised at tens of thousands of dollars less than comparable homes owned by whites as well as issue new federal rules to fight housing discrimination.

The administration is also setting a goal of increasing the share of federal contracts awarded to small disadvantaged businesses by 50% by 2026, funneling an estimated additional $100 billion to such businesses over the five-year period, according to the White House.

Historians say the massacre in Tulsa began after a local newspaper drummed up a furor over a Black man accused of stepping on a white girl’s foot. When Black Tulsans showed up with guns to prevent the man’s lynching, white residents responded with overwhelming force.

Tensions persist a century later.

Organizers called off a separate commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, saying no agreement could be reached over monetary payments to three survivors of the deadly attack. It highlights broader debates over reparations for racial injustice.

Reparations for Black Americans whose ancestors were enslaved and for other racial discrimination have been debated in the U.S. since slavery ended in 1865. Now they are being discussed by colleges and universities with ties to slavery and by local governments looking to make cash payments to Black residents.

Some of Tulsa’s Black residents question whether the $20 million spent to build the Greenwood Rising museum in an increasingly gentrified part of the city could have been better spent helping Black descendants of the massacre or residents of the city’s predominantly Black north side several miles away from Greenwood.

Disagreements among Black leaders in Tulsa over the handling of commemorative events and millions of dollars in donations have led to two disparate groups planning separate slates of anniversary events.

Biden, who was vice president to the nation's first Black president and who chose a Black woman as his own vice president, backs a study of reparations, both in Tulsa and more broadly, but has not committed to supporting payments. He recently declared the need for America to confront its past, saying, "We must acknowledge that there can be no realization of the American dream without grappling with the original sin of slavery and the centuries-long campaign of violence, fear and trauma wrought upon African American people in this country."

He issued a proclamation designating Monday as a "day of remembrance" for the massacre.

This week on the Hear Cincinnati podcast, host Brian Niesz is joined by community reporter Lucy May, senior real-time editor Pat LaFleur and senior manager of enterprise/investigative Meghan Goth to discuss property values in the suburbs, FC Cincinnati's stadium lights, tips for choosing a nursing home, and more.

Next, reporter Mariel Carbone joins the podcast to discuss the challenges facing the Cincinnati Police Department as they defend their diversity quotas and shorten training due to an officer shortage.

Listen to this episode in the podcast player above.

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