President Joe Biden on Tuesday condemned the poison of white supremacy and said the nation must “reject the lie” of the racist “replacement theory” espoused by the shooter who killed 10 Black people in Buffalo.

Speaking to victims' families, local officials and first responders, Biden said America's diversity is its strength, and warned that the nation must not be be distorted by a “hateful minority.”

“The American experiment in democracy is in danger like it hasn’t been in my lifetime,” Biden said. “It’s in danger this hour. Hate and fear being given too much oxygen by those who pretend to love America but who don’t understand America.”

He declared: “In America, evil will not win, I promise you. Hate will not prevail, white supremacy will not have the last word.”

Biden's emotional remarks came after he and first lady Jill Biden paid their respects at a makeshift memorial of blossoms, candles and messages of condolence outside the Tops supermarket, where on Saturday a young man armed with an assault rifle targeted Black people in the deadliest racist attack in the U.S. since Biden took office.

In Buffalo, the president was confronting anew the forces of hatred he frequently says called him back to seek the White House.

“Jill and I have come to stand with you, and to the families, we have come to grieve with you," Biden said. He added: “Now’s the time for people of all races, from every background, to speak up as a majority and American and reject white supremacy.”

Replacement theory is a racist ideology, which has moved from white nationalist circles to mainstream, that alleges white people and their influence are being intentionally “replaced” by people of color.

“It’s important for him to show up for the families and the community and express his condolences,” said Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP. “But we’re more concerned with preventing this from happening in the future.”

It’s unclear how Biden will try to do that. Proposals for new gun restrictions have routinely been blocked by Republicans, and racist rhetoric espoused on the fringes of the nation’s politics has only grown louder.

Asked about gun legislation, Biden said at the airport, “It’s going to be very difficult. ... I’m not going to give up trying.”

Biden's condemnation of white supremacy is a message he has delivered several times since he became the first president to specifically address it in an inaugural speech, calling it “domestic terrorism that we must confront.” However, such beliefs remain an entrenched threat at a time when his administration has been focused on addressing the pandemic, inflation and the war in Ukraine.

In his remarks Tuesday, Biden paid tribute to each of the 10 people who lost their lives, describing them as model citizens, beacons of their community and deeply committed to family.

Three more people were wounded. Nearly all the victims were Black, including all of those who died.

The shooter's hateful writings echoed those of the white supremacists who marched with torches in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, a scene that Biden said inspired his decision to run against President Donald Trump in 2020 and that drove him to join what he calls the “battle for the soul of America."

Payton Gendron, 18, was arrested at the supermarket and charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

Before the shooting, Gendron is reported to have posted online a screed overflowing with racism and antisemitism. The writer of the document described himself as a supporter of Dylann Roof, who killed nine Black parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, and Brenton Tarrant, who targeted mosques in New Zealand in 2019.

Investigators are looking at Gendron's connection to what's known as the “great replacement" theory, which baselessly claims white people are being intentionally overrun by other races through immigration or higher birth rates.

“I condemn those who spread the lie for power, political gain and for profit,” Biden said, stopping short of naming those he believes responsible for perpetuating it.

The claims are often interwoven with antisemitism, with Jews identified as the culprits. During the 2017 “Unite the Right” march in Charlottesville, the white supremacists chanted “Jews will not replace us."

“These actions we’ve seen, these hate-filled attacks, represent the views of a hateful minority," Biden said.

“We have to refuse to live in a country where black people going about a weekly grocery shopping can be gunned down by weapons of war deployed in a racist cause,” he added. “We have to refuse live in a country where fear and lies are packaged for power and for profit.”

In the years since Charlottesville, replacement theory has moved from the online fringe to mainstream right-wing politics. A third of U.S. adults believe there is “a group of people in this country who are trying to replace native-born Americans with immigrants who agree with their political views,” according to a poll conducted in December by The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Video below: Buffalo not politics, but 'need to uproot evil,' White House says

Tucker Carlson, the prominent Fox News host, accuses Democrats of orchestrating mass migration to consolidate their power.

“The country is being stolen from American citizens," he said Aug. 23, 2021. He repeated the same theme a month later, saying that “this policy is called the great replacement, the replacement of legacy Americans with more obedient people from faraway countries.”

Carlson's show routinely receives the highest ratings in cable news, and he responded to the furor Monday night by accusing liberals of trying to silence their opponents.

“So because a mentally ill teenager murdered strangers, you cannot be allowed to express your political beliefs out loud,” he said.

His commentary reflects how this conspiratorial view of immigration has spread through the Republican Party ahead of this year's midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress.

Facebook advertisements posted last year by the campaign committee of Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said Democrats want a “PERMANENT ELECTION INSURRECTION” by granting amnesty to illegal immigrants. The plan would "overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington.”

Alex DeGrasse, a senior adviser to Stefanik’s campaign, said Monday she “has never advocated for any racist position or made a racist statement." He criticized “sickening and false reporting” about her advertisements.

Stefanik is the third-ranking leader of the House Republican caucus, replacing Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who angered the party with her denunciations of Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Cheney, in a tweet on Monday, said the caucus' leadership “has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-Semitism. History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse.”

Replacement theory rhetoric has also rippled through Republican primary campaigns.

Although Biden has not spoken directly about replacement theory, his warnings about racism remain a fixture of his public speeches.

Three days before the Buffalo shooting, at a Democratic fundraiser in Chicago, Biden said, "I really do think we’re still in the battle for the soul of America.”

___

Associated Press writer Karen Matthews in New York contributed to this report.

The White House says that President Joe Biden will formally call on Congress to "take action" in keeping "weapons of war" off of streets and "keep guns out of the hands of criminals and people who have serious mental illness."

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made the comments aboard Air Force One to the press as the president traveled to Buffalo, New York on Tuesday to visit the area of a mass shooting there at a supermarket called Tops Market.

As the Associated Press reported, the shooter, Payton Gendron, was described as a quiet, socially awkward student. He once reportedly threatened a murder-suicide while at school and was put under a mental evaluation, then released later the next day when investigators are said to have stopped looking into the matter as serious.

Gendron is accused of shooting and killing 10 people at the Buffalo supermarket. Most of the victims were said to be in their 50s or older. Investigators described the attack as  “racially motivated violent extremism.”

“It is my sincere hope that this individual, this white supremacist who just perpetrated a hate crime on an innocent community, will spend the rest of his days behind bars. And heaven help him in the next world as well,” said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Gendron shot 11 Black people and two white people before he surrendered to police.

Social media video was trailing a far-right Twitter influencer who sought to disrupt an LGBTQ pride event in Arlington, Texas Sunday. With her, a Dallas Fort Worth chapter of The Proud Boys.

They're a well-documented violent fascist gang that's also in the spotlight of the Congressional committee investigating the January 6 assault on the Capitol to overturn the presidential election.

"This latest stuff, where you have these radicalized groups that, you know, seem to delight in the cruelty — That's new," said Rafael McDonnell, communications manager at The Resource Center. 

LGBTQ advocacy groups in north Texas are alarmed by the recent harassment and disinformation campaigns of far-right social media influencers during Pride Month that is also attracting white nationalist groups.

"And I think that is, in part, fueled by some of the governmental response to LGBTQ folks, whether it's Governor DeSantis in Florida and 'Don't Say Gay' and some of the stuff," McDonnell continued. "And then Gov. Abbott here in Texas, you know, coming after the health care of transgender children."

On June 11, Idaho authorities intercepted 31 members of Patriot Front, a fascist white nationalist group that seeks to create a "whites-only America."

According to documents, an eyewitness said members gathered like "a little army." Police say they wanted to violently disrupt a pride event in the city of Couer d'Alene. 

David Cunningham, a sociologist, and expert on white supremacist and white nationalist groups says whether it's Patriot Front or The Proud Boys, both groups are showing up with conservative influencers to recruit more people into extremism. 

"As we saw this past weekend, showing up at public events to kind of promote ideas, but to do so in a way that is quite menacing, intimidating by design, and terroristic when you see it in the context that we saw it in in Idaho," he said. "And what I think we're seeing is a whole range of issues that are have been traditionally part of that white supremacist ecosystem, which are really about — they're framed in terms of reducing the power, visibility, and presence of, quote-unquote, traditional and right for white Americans."

In court records obtained by Newsy and Scripps sister station KSTU in Salt Lake City, Patriot Front members appeared prepared to cause mayhem. They came armed with "unusually long flag poles," a smoke grenade, and "metal shields."

Almost all carried small devices to record video and fashioned their own body armor using shin guards or putting hardened plastic in their ball caps. 

In a propaganda video posted on alternative social platforms prior to their arrests in Idaho, members appear spurred on by their leader, training with shields in a mock riot. Sparverius, which monitors extremist groups, says this is evidence Patriot Front prepared for violence.  

"I think underlying that, we see a theme continuous current as well of the threat of mass violence, of the threat of domestic terrorism attached to this. And so, you know, this, this is a really tenuous and fragile time, because I think the movement is simultaneously both of these kinds of things," Cunningham said.

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BRIDGEWATER TOWNSHIP, N.J. —

A video showing police officers breaking up a fight between a Black teenager and a white teenager at a New Jersey mall has prompted outrage over the police response.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said Wednesday that the "appearance of what is racially disparate treatment is deeply, deeply disturbing."

One video of the incident reviewed by CNN shows the boys arguing before the white teenager points his finger at the Black teenager's face, and the Black teenager pushes the white teenager's hand back. The white teenager pushes the Black teenager, who begins to throw punches at the other boy. The white teenager punches back.

The Black teenager ends up on the ground. Two Bridgewater Township police officers arrive and separate the two boys.

The Black teenager begins to get up and is pinned to the ground by one officer and rolled onto his stomach, with his hands behind his back. The other officer pushes the white teenager onto a nearby couch and then assists in handcuffing the Black teenager. Eventually, officers stand the handcuffed Black teenager up.

It is unclear how the incident escalated between the boys or what happened after the Black teenager was handcuffed.

CNN has not been able to speak to either teenagers or their parents.

The Black teenager, who identified himself by his first name, Kye, spoke to CNN affiliate WABC, saying his friend was arguing with the white teenager and he "just kind of jumped in" before it turned into a physical fight. He said the officers on scene "basically tackled (him) to the ground" and one officer put his knee on his back.

"The male officer put his knee in my back, then he started putting me in cuffs and then the female officer came over and put her knee on my upper back too, and started helping putting cuffs on me ... while (the white teenager) was just sitting down on the couch watching the whole thing," Kye said.

The Bridgewater Township Police Department said in a Facebook post that they know video of the incident has upset members of the community. They have asked the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office to investigate the incident.

"We recognize that this video has made members of our community upset and are calling for an internal affairs investigation," the department wrote.

"The officers were able to respond quickly to this incident and stop it from escalating because of a tip we received from the community. We have requested that the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office assist us in this matter and are requesting patience as we strictly adhere to the New Jersey Attorney General's Internal Affairs Directive.

"We appreciate the videos that we have already received from community members and ask that anyone who has a video of this incident please email it to tips@bridgewaterpd.com. The men and women of the Bridgewater Township Police Department are thankful for our community partners and look forward to continuing to build our positive relationships."

Gov. Murphy on Wednesday also said that the incident is "just another reminder that the progress we made on the relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve ... our work is not done, and we need to continue that."

The Somerset County Prosecutor's Office confirmed to CNN Wednesday that their Internal Affairs Unit is investigating both the fight and the police response. The Mayor of Bridgewater, Matthew Moench, said in a letter to residents that it is "not appropriate for [him] or any other Township official to comment any further" while the investigation is ongoing, but said he is "completely confident that the Prosecutor's review will be impartial, objective and thorough."

The New Jersey Attorney General's office also said in a statement Wednesday that they are working closely with the prosecutor's office on the investigation. "The SPCO will follow the Attorney General's Office's strict guidelines and procedures for investigating possible misconduct, and to ensure transparency and accountability," a spokesperson said.

Kye's mother told CNN affiliate WCBS that she wants the officers involved to become "unemployable."

"Maybe they could have broken up the fight and maybe set them aside and called their parents. No cuffs, no aggression. Dealt with them like they were teenagers," the mother said. "I'm not happy about it, and I do want those two cops to become unemployable. That's what I would like."

Eight years after he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Geoffrey Easterling remains astonished by the Confederate history still memorialized on the storied academy's campus – the six-foot-tall painting of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in the library, the barracks dormitory named for Lee and the Lee Gate on Lee Road.

As a Black student at the Army academy, he remembers feeling "devastated" when a classmate pointed out the slave also depicted in the Lee painting. "How did the only Black person who got on a wall in this entire humongous school — how is it a slave?" he recalls thinking.

As a diversity admissions officer, he later traveled the country recruiting students to West Point from underrepresented communities. "It was so hard to tell people like, 'Yeah, you can trust the military,' and then their kids Google and go 'Why is there a barracks named after Lee?'" he said.

The nation's military academies provide a key pipeline into the leadership of the armed services and, for the better part of the last decade, they have welcomed more racially diverse students each year. But beyond blanket anti-discrimination policies, these federally funded institutions volunteer little about how they screen for extremist or hateful behavior, or address the racial slights that some graduates of color say they faced daily.

In an Associated Press story earlier this year, current and former enlistees and officers in nearly every branch of the armed services described a deep-rooted culture of racism and discrimination that stubbornly festers, despite repeated efforts to eradicate it. Less attention has been paid to the premiere institutions that produce a significant portion of the services' officer corps – the academies of the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Merchant Marine.

Some graduates of color from the nation's top military schools who endured what they describe as a hostile environment are left questioning the military maxim that all service members wearing the same uniform are equal.

That includes Carlton Shelley II, who was recruited to play football for West Point from his Sarasota, Florida, high school and entered the academy in 2009. On the field, he described the team as "a brotherhood," where his skin color didn't matter. But off the field, he said, he and other Black classmates too often were treated like the stereotype of the angry Black man.

Some students of color have spotlighted what they see as systemic discrimination at the academies by creating Instagram accounts — "Black at West Point," "Black at USAFA" and "Black at USNA" — to relate their personal experiences.

In response to the AP's findings, a spokesman for the Department of Defense, Maj. Charlie Dietz, said the academies make it a policy to offer equal opportunities regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity or sexual orientation. He said the DOD formed a team in April to advance progress on diversity, equity and inclusion across the entire department, including the academies.

The latest annual defense spending bill mandated that the Defense Department survey all its military properties for references or symbols that potentially commemorate the Confederacy, including at West Point, which the commission overseeing the work picked as its first site to visit earlier this year. But the deadline to act on any recommendations is still more than two years away.

Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, which sparked global protests, a group of West Point alums released a 40-page letter urging the academy to address "major failures" in combatting intolerance and racism, adding "we hold fast to the hope that our Alma Mater will take the necessary steps to champion the values it espouses."

Shelley said the academy has significant work to do to retain and support students of color. In his class, he estimated about 35 Black students graduated — "some crazy low number," he said. "And we started with a lot more."

West Point did not respond to repeated requests for comment, beyond reiterating the importance of diversity to its admissions process.

The academies are a growing pathway to officer status for Black cadets, 2019 data from the Under Secretary of Defense shows, with about 13% of Black active-duty officers commissioned through the five institutions, compared to 19% of white active-duty officers.

Most students who enroll — about 60-70% — are nominated by U.S. senators or representatives from their home states as part of a system created in the 1840s to build a geographically diverse officer corps. But today, the country's changed demographics mean the system gives disproportionate influence to rural congressional districts that tend to be whiter.

Only 6% of nominations to the Army, Air Force and Naval academies made by the current members of Congress went to Black candidates, even though 15% of the population aged 18 to 24 is Black, according to a March report by the Connecticut Veterans' Legal Center. Eight percent of congressional nominations went to Hispanic students, though they make up 22% of young adults, the report said.

The diversity of nominations has improved slightly in the past 25 years, but the report noted that 49 Congress members did not nominate a single Black student while in office and 31 nominated no Hispanic candidates.

Curtis Harris said he was awarded one of just three nominations to West Point out of more than 300 applications to his congressman. Now, he helps review applications for a New York Congressman and visits schools to encourage young candidates of diverse backgrounds to apply.

Diversifying West Point is "not going to happen by itself," he said.

According to data supplied to the AP by the four schools, the Naval, Air Force, Merchant Marine and Coast Guard academies have generally become less white over the past two decades. West Point did not provide full data, but said it is increasingly welcoming diverse students, with 37% of the class of 2024 identifying as nonwhite, compared to about 25% a decade ago.

While the number of Hispanic cadets increased in the past two decades at the Coast Guard and Naval academies, Black cadets showed no noticeable increase during that time. In the class of 2000, there were 73 Black midshipmen in the Naval Academy and just 77 in 2020. At the Coast Guard Academy, there were 15 Black cadets in the 2001 class. And in 2021? Merely 16.

Two of the five academies -- West Point and the Air Force Academy -- now have their first Black leaders. But Easterling, the West Point graduate, noted that the faculty there remains mostly white, meaning students who "don't see themselves, and don't want to stay" can find it hard to ask for help.

Greg Elliott said he often found himself in trouble while at the Merchant Marine Academy and was asked to leave without graduating. He said he didn't face overt racism, but wonders if a more diverse faculty and student body could have changed his course by making him feel he belonged.

He recalls a fellow Black alum telling him to just plow through with his head down and realize the academy was "a terrible place to be at, but it's a great place to be from."

___

AP writers James LaPorta in Miami and Kat Stafford in Detroit and data intern Jasen Lo in Chicago contributed to this story.

Wieffering is a Roy W. Howard Investigative Fellow.

A popular actor steps out onto the street and is brutally reminded that, despite his fame and wealth, places still exist where the color of his skin and sexual orientation put him in danger.

That was the story that ricocheted around the world after Jussie Smollett, a Black and openly gay actor, reported to Chicago police that he was the victim of a hate crime.

Nearly three years later, Smollett is about to stand trial on charges that he staged the whole thing.

Video above: Smollett has maintained his innocence throughout the process

He was charged with felony disorderly conduct after law enforcement and prosecutors said he lied to police about what happened in the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2019, in downtown Chicago. He has pleaded not guilty. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday. Disorderly conduct, a class 4 felony, carries a sentence of up to three years in prison but experts have said it is more likely that if Smollett is convicted he would be placed on probation and perhaps ordered to perform community service.

Smollett told police he was walking home from a Subway sandwich shop at 2 a.m. when two men he said recognized him from the TV show “Empire” began hurling racial and homophobic slurs at him. He said the men struck him, looped a makeshift noose around his neck and shouted, “This is MAGA country,” a reference to then-President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

Reaction to his reported assault underscored the increasingly polarized political landscape; Democratic politicians and others called it a shocking example of Trump-era bigotry and hate, while Republicans accused liberals of rushing to paint the president's supporters as racists.

Just weeks later came the stunning announcement that Smollett was charged with staging the attack to further his career and secure a higher salary. And, police said, he hired two brothers from Nigeria, to pretend to attack him for $3,500.

This made the spotlight on Smollett shine even brighter, but this time he was vilified as someone willing to use one of the most potent symbol of racism in the U.S. to further his career.

“The most vile and despicable part of it, if it’s true, is the noose,” Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr., who is Black, said during Smollett's first court appearance. “That symbol conjures up such evil in this country’s history.”

Smollett also became a national punch line. He was the subject of a “Saturday Night Live” skit and a host of Black celebrities, from NBA analyst Charles Barkley to comedian Dave Chappelle, took turns poking fun at him.

Then came the anger that Smollett's fame accorded him influence that is out of reach for most. Reports indicated Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, at the request of former first lady Michelle Obama's onetime chief of staff, communicated with a member of Smollett's family early in the investigation. Foxx recused herself from the case then her office suddenly dropped the charges, and Foxx found herself at the center of a media firestorm as she refuted the suggestion that her office gave the television star a break.

All that set the stage for what turned a simple question of Smollett's innocence or guilt into a convoluted legal saga that has dragged on for nearly three years.

The trial was delayed in part because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought cases around the country to a halt for months. But also, charges were filed, dropped and filed again by a special prosecutor who was brought in to take over the case.

Smollett — whose career has since faded — will this week return to the glare of the media spotlight, but this time as he passes the forest of news cameras as he makes his way to and from court.

The producers of “Empire,” on which he starred for four years, renewed his contract for the sixth and final season in 2019, but he never appeared in an episode. Nor has he released any music or given significant musical performances.

He has, however, directed an independent film, funded by his own production company, that is premiering at the American Black Film Festival this month. The movie, “B-Boy Blues” is an adaptation of a 1994 novel, the first in a series, about the lives of gay Black men in New York.

But once in court, what will unfold will be what may sound like a bad movie for the simple reason that a short movie is exactly what authorities have long maintained Smollett was trying to create.

Key witnesses will be the brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who say Smollett wrote them a check to stage the attack. They are expected to characterize Smollett as the star and director of an “attack" in full view of a surveillance camera that he mistakenly believed would record the whole event.

And, according to their lawyer, the brothers will also describe how Smollett drove them to the spot where the incident was to play out for a “dress rehearsal.”

“He was telling them ‘Here’s a camera, there’s a camera and here’s where you are going to run away,’” said their lawyer, Gloria Rodriguez.

___

Associated Press reporter Andrew Dalton contributed from Los Angeles.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Tracey Williams-Dillard is the granddaughter of an influential journalist who gave a voice to black communities when they weren’t being heard back in 1934.

"He was righting the wrong,” Williams-Dillard said.

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

is the oldest black-owned newspaper in the state of Minnesota. It was born from oppression -- lifting up voices and stories that might otherwise go unheard. But as publisher, Williams-Dillard is afraid not too much has changed in 86 years.

“You just want everybody to have equal rights. You want everybody to be okay. But it don’t end,” Williams-Dillard said. “We’re talking 1939 youth stabbed, same thing we’re talking today. Shocking video shows Minneapolis police caused man’s death.”

She’s encouraged to see people in the community protesting in the streets.

“This is a peaceful protest," Williams-Dillard said. "This is because people want to see justice. They want to see something different from what we’ve been seeing for way too long.”

It hasn’t all been peaceful. Williams-Dillard was overcome with emotion when she saw her family’s building boarded up for the first time in its history.

“When I walk up to the black press and we realize that we’re boarded up too because the violence is out of hand,” Williams-Dillard said.

They sit only a few blocks away from where George Floyd took his last breath.

“This anger, this goes back beyond Minneapolis around the nation. Some people don’t know all this history, but they feel it in their bones because their parents have lived through it,” the paper’s community editor Mel Reeves said.

Reeves is also a human rights activist and says people of color are sick of seeing their brothers and sisters killed by law enforcement time and time again.

“If you kicked me and you said ‘Oh sorry Mel,’ and then you kicked me again and you said ‘Oh sorry Mel,’ and then you kicked me again…. I’d start to think ‘maybe you’re kicking me on purpose,’" Reeves said.

Even if people aren’t inherently racist, he believes prejudice has been built into American society.

“We’re taught to be racist," Reeves said. "We’re taught to hate ourselves. White people are taught to feel superior, and black people are taught to be inferior. And we know it.”

University of Minnesota professor

Edward Goetz

studies issues of race, class and access to affordable housing.

“Systemic racism refers to racism and disparate outcomes that are built into our systems. That may have been built into our systems for reasons that have nothing to do with race, but that in fact work now to reinforce racial inequity and inequalities,” Goetz said.

For example, in the 20^th century, Goetz says there were explicit forms of racial discrimination in housing. It was illegal for some people to occupy certain types of housing and it created great wealth imbalances.

Even though those overt acts of racism may not happen now, “What that has created over time is a huge disparity in wealth because there’s been a generation or two of white people who have been able to generate a lot of wealth from their housing and have passed that wealth onto subsequent generations,” Goetz said.

Many minority groups don’t have that same privilege. Another element of systemic racism has to do with rules that are built into our systems like the way we fund our local schools – most are funded by property tax revenues and local funds.

“So you have very well-endowed schools in some neighborhoods providing tremendous opportunities and experiences for students, and you have schools in other neighborhoods that are underfunded that don’t have the most recent textbooks or facilities, and this produces disparate outcomes in education which then goes on to have impact on subsequent earnings,” Goetz said.

It’s a cycle that’s hard to break, but systemic racism goes beyond housing and school. According to Goetz, for the same crime, people of color are arrested, prosecuted and jailed more than white people.

“Systemic racism and white supremacy isn’t just a white cop with his knee on the neck of a black man. It’s the system that creates that cop, it’s the system that tolerates that cop, and it’s the system that allows officers like him to escape punishment,” Goetz said.

Acooa Ellis

has also spent time researching systemic racism. She's the Senior Vice President of Community Impact at the

Greater Twin Cities United Way

.

“There are so many people whose heart is literally to protect and serve, but too many… too many where that isn’t the case, and that behavior goes unabated, and it spreads, and it becomes part of the culture,” Ellis said.

Ellis says there are possible solutions like training officers differently, or getting them connected with the community.

“There’s something about policing a person that could live around the corner from you, or go to school with someone that you love,” Ellis said.

Ellis says she’s optimistic change is coming soon. Williams-Dillard says Minnesota Spokesman Recorder will not stop its activism until that change is made.

“My hope for going forward is that we can just be real. Let’s get real about what is happening, let’s get real about our role to be a part of the change. And let’s stop having nice conversations, and have honest ones,” Ellis said.

“We gotta keep the news out there, we gotta remind people that these are real times, and we gotta talk about it,” Williams-Dillard said.

“At some point, we gotta lay down our prejudices and our assumptions about folks, and we gotta see each other as human beings. Can’t stress that enough,” Reeves said.

“I cannot breathe. My heart is so heavy. It’s just so heavy,” Williams-Dillard said.

 

"I can remember clearly the first time my parents had the talk with my brother and I [sic].

And no, we aren’t talking the birds and the bees.

My parents were trying to explain to their elementary-aged children that we were different and encounters with the police could be life or death.

They told us to address officers like we were taught to speak to all adults: “Yes sir, no sir. Yes mam, no mam.”

Don’t make sudden movements.

Don’t put our hands in our pockets.

Don’t look down or grab anything without permission first.

Follow their commands without question.

And for reasons I would only understand when I was an adult, it was more important for my brother to do all of these things right.

We were taught to know our rights, but under no circumstances should we verbally defend ourselves—no matter what is said by an officer.

This conversation was sparked after an officer pulled over my father just a block from our house. The officer asked my father multiple times what he did for a living to afford his car—he owned a construction company.

Something similar would happen to my two black cousins and I [sic] years later as teenagers.

The officer pulled us over as we were turning onto my street and asked what we were doing in that neighborhood.

I told him I lived there. He asked us to get out of the car.

At that moment, I remembered ‘the talk’ and the biggest thing my parents emphasized: these encounters may not always be fair but what is most important is to come home."

Jessica Porter is a reporter with thedenverchannel.com.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va — The Virginia Beach Police Department said Thursday that the "disturbing and reprehensible" situation occurring between neighbors on Jessamine Court has stopped and will not be prosecuted.

According to the department, in October 2020, officers responded to several calls for service related to nuisance and loud music complaints on the street.

A neighbor claimed that another neighbor was playing "offensive sounds, lights and words" at a high volume, including banjo music, racial slurs, and animal sounds.

“The lights on his house would start blinking because as we step out of our home, we would trigger sensors that would then turn on music,” said Jannique Martinez, who lives next door. “We had one family that as soon as they’d pull up in their driveway, the music would start.”

Martinez said her youngest son was affected the most by the taunting.

"He was terrified," she said. "He would be afraid to go get his ball if it ever went over there, or he would constantly feel like he would come out and yell at him, which he has before."

Police Chief Paul Neudigate said he spoke directly with the complainant in the case Thursday, who told her neighbor to stop playing the noises.

"I was pleased to hear from her that the offensive behavior voluntarily ceased as of Sept. 23 and has not reoccured," Neudigate said in a statement. "I assured Ms. Martinez that the Virginia Beach Police Department will continue to assist with her concerns, and she should not hesitate to call if the behavior recurs."

After they conducted a thorough investigation, the department said that the City Attorney, Magistrate, and Commonwealth's Attorney are "all in agreement" that the neighbor's behavior does not rise to the level of a crime under Virginia statutes.

The statutes in which "may only criminalize words that constitute true threats or are reasonably likely to provoke an immediate breach of the peace."

"The sounds, lights, and words displayed from within the home on Jessamine Court, while offensive and unacceptable, do not meet that standard. Therefore, the current evidence does not support a criminal charge," the department said.

Police also said the loud music doesn’t go above the noise level in the city ordinance.

Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police Executive Director Dana Schrad said to charge someone with a hate crime in this type of matter; you have to have specific intent and prove that someone intended to instill fear or intimidation against a person, or purposely harassed them because of their particular class.

“The defense part of this is, does the individual have a free speech right that would be in some way, they have a first amendment right to communicate whatever they want,” Schrad said. “You can have [a] bias against anybody; it’s not a crime to do that. The crime occurs when you specifically intend to harass or intimidate when your speech elevates to that level.”

Because he didn’t make any direct threats to her family, Martinez said there’s not much that can be done.

“I felt deflated,” she said. “I felt so defeated. I just felt like I couldn’t protect my kids. I couldn’t imagine living like this.”

According to the department, officials continue to explore other avenues of redress, including contacting the FBI to see if there was anything actionable from a federal standpoint. In the meantime, the Civil Division of the Attorney General's Office is investigating.

"My Office of Civil Rights is in touch with the victims of this harassment, and we are working alongside them and state entities to stop it," Attorney General Mark Herring said in a tweet. "Race-based harassment and discrimination in housing is illegal, and I will not allow it to happen in Virginia."

Antoinette DelBel at WTKR first reported this story.

Officials in Oakland, California announced Monday that they were charging a suspect in connection with a series of violent attacks against elderly Asian Americans, one of which was caught on video.

In a press conference announcing the arrest on Monday, officials in Oakland said they would launch a new task force to investigate similar attacks in the future and warned that racist attacks would not be tolerated in the community.

“Today, we're sending a message to those that commit crime in this city that we will pursue you and we will arrest you and it's not acceptable for things like this to happen in our community," Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstron said.

The press conference in Oakland comes just over a week after three elderly Asian Americans — a 91-year-old man, a 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman — were all shoved to the ground on Jan. 31.

The incident involving the 91-year-old man was captured on video, and all three victims suffered injuries.

The suspect, identified by officials as Yahya Muslim, was arrested on unrelated charges on Feb. 1, District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said Monday.

"We are filing charges against a suspect identified as Yahya Muslim. We have charged him with three counts of assault that involve three separate victims," O'Malley said.

The announcement comes after two prominent Asian-American actors, Daniel Wu and Daniel Dae Kim, each pledged a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in connection with the alleged assaults.

"Racist rhetoric from the pandemic have targeted us as being the reason for coronavirus. And so Asians across-the-board have been targeted, being pushed, attacked, spat on,” Wu said at the press conference Monday. “Outside of San Francisco, in Los Angeles and in New York, these incidents are happening all over the country."

Those three alleged assaults took place just three days after an 84-year-old Thai man was abruptly attacked in nearby San Francisco. Vicha Ratanapakdee later died of his injuries, and a 19-year-old suspect has been arrested and charged with murder and elder abuse.

CNN reports that O’Malley announced Monday that her office was creating a special task force that will focus on crimes committed against elderly Asian-Americans.

"The rapid increase in criminal acts targeted against members of the Asian community, particularly Chinese Americans, who live and work in Alameda County is intolerable," O’Malley said.

At Monday's White House press briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that while she isn't sure if President Joe Biden has seen the videos of the alleged assaults, he's aware that racism against Asian-Americans is on the rise. Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office pledging to fight racism against Asian-Americans during his term.

The pandemic has brought structural racism in health care to the surface, not just through COVID-19 infections, deaths and access to care, but also within perceptions.

“We were really, really, you know, shocked to see the influence of discrimination on the perception of discrimination and on people's receipt of care,” said Carl V. Hill, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at the Alzheimer's Association.

The annual Alzheimer’s Association report released Tuesday also included a look for the first time at experiences of communities of color and perspectives of the disease and dementia care.

They found two thirds of Black Americans believe it’s harder for them to get excellent care. Native Americans, Hispanic and Asian Americans have similar feelings.

“As people feel like they will be treated unfairly in a health care setting, they're less likely to go and seek care, right, and so we know that delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis is a huge factor for the disparities that we see,” said Hill.

Diverse communities also see bias in dementia research, and many don't trust a future cure would be equal.

“So, working with organizations that represent the well-being of, for example, African Americans and Latinos, so that we can create trust you know, so we can become trustworthy and provide resources as they relate to education and awareness, or care and support, to those communities,” said Hill.

The Alzheimer’s Association is also working to improve cultural competence and diversity within health care.

African Americans and Hispanics were found to be up to twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. More than 6 million seniors are living with the disease.

For decades, a series of books were bought by millions and was considered by many to be literally life-saving. One woman is making it her life’s work to document the story of these books. Their reach touches every community in the country.

There are so many old vacation memories recorded in the time of the late 1940s and 1950s, as ads encouraged families to go out on the road and explore America. Thinking back on these years of unprecedented opportunity to experience the country, someone had a question: how did Black families travel during a time of sundown towns?

“Sundown towns were all-white communities,” said writer and photographer Candacy Taylor. “If you were caught there after sundown, there could be severe consequences and even death. My innocent question was if there’s all these sundown towns, what did the Black people do? Looking back on vacation history and marketing, there’s white folks at the beach, and you never see Black people in any of these images, and there’s a reason for that.”

At night, going through unfamiliar towns so far from home, where did these families stay? How did they know if they were in a sundown town? There have been many stops in answering these questions for Taylor. On one day, the questions led her to Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia.

“That’s the original sign, but ‘funeral home’ was beneath here,” said Taylor, snapping a picture outside a building. “We’re at Haugabrooks Funeral Home, but now it’s just called Haugabrooks because it is an art space.”

There’s an important history to Haugabrooks, as one of the original sites to be featured in the Green Book.

“It was everything from drug stores to banks,” Taylor said of the Green Book. “Anything you might need on the road was in the Green Book. It was like a Black Yellow Pages. Most Black families spent weeks preparing for a road trip. You’d pick up a Green Book. You’d go through and figure out the places you wanted to stay. This was the Jim Crow era in general. The Green Book started publication in 1936, and it lasted through 1967.”

Taylor snaps pictures of stained glass inside Haugabrooks.

“There’s something visceral about being in a space that’s tied to this history. It’s almost like a spiritual experience for me.”

Taylor’s work, photographing and writing about the Green Book sites, is a project of rare ambition.

“I’ve cataloged over 10,000 Green Book sites,” she said. “I’ve scouted 6,000, and right now, I’m on the road scouting the remaining 4,000.”

Part of Taylor’s work is in her book Overground Railroad, where she details original Green Book sites like The Rossonian in Denver, Colorado, the Hampton House resort in Miami, Florida, and the Regal Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

The work is being archived at the Library of Congress and is used both for an exhibition with the Smithsonian and a mobile app Taylor is developing. She’s telling the story of the Black family on those unfamiliar roads in the Jim Crow era.

“This feels like my life’s work,” said Taylor. “I think we’ve lost our way in understanding how race and racism have led to where we are today. I felt it’s even important we tell this story now, and we look at this history through the lens of the Green Book. I don’t know where this ends, but I know it’s important, and I feel it’s bigger than me at this point.”

There are more than 2.5 million Chinese immigrants in America. Many make the journey to the U.S. and share a similar experience to Yi Andy Chen’s father.

“He got punched. He got locked up in different jails in different countries from South Asia to Mexico, and he didn’t even know where he was supposed to go the next minute,” said Yi.

In the early 90s, it took his father two years, walking across mountains and hitching rides on boats, to get from Fujian Province, China to New York City. Throughout the entire journey, Yi and his family had no communication with Yi’s father.

“At one point, we didn’t even know if he was alive,” Yi said.

His father made the dangerous journey out of desperation.

“At that time in China, we were not allowed to have two boys at home, and I was the second son,” Yi explained.

The second son had to be hidden for fear of being taken away by the government at the time. Yi’s father didn’t want to live with that fear forever, and he wanted the chance at giving his children more opportunities in the land of opportunity: America.

“I grew up in China until 14 years old,” said Hailing Chen.

Hailing is of no familial relation to Yi, but their families do come from the same province in China. Chen's father made a similar journey from Fujian to the U.S. as Yi’s father, except Chen’s father, who chose to never speak about that part of his immigrant story

“I know it was tough,” said Hailing. “And I learned some stories that he worked in the restaurants and lived in the basement, and those kinds of stories really break my heart.”

Like most first-generation immigrants, both Chen’s fathers worked low-wage jobs for long hours, often seven-day work weeks and 12 to 16-hour days in restaurants. They lived extremely modestly, often boarded with a dozen other people in a small New York City one-bedroom apartment in order to save up for their families to legally come to the U.S. and to give their next generation a better chance in life.

“You know, he gave me a chance to go to college,” Chen said of his father.

Chen and Yi both went to college. Yi now lives the quintessential American dream, owning a small business in Queens. Chen studied accounting but found his passion was actually fighting for immigrant rights and has since become an advocate. After turning to Uber for work during the Great Recession, Chen helped immigrant drivers fight for union rights and protection.

“We were able to successfully pass a number of bills that are on the state and city level to provide job protection, to provide minimum pay,” said Chen.

This year, Chen decided to further stand up for his community by running for office in the biggest city in the country. He is the first immigrant from the Fujian Province to ever do so. Yi became the second, and now, there is a third candidate. They are running in different districts, which means they all have a chance of winning their races and NYC could see all three potentially as the first-ever Fujian council members.

"Once we announced our candidacy for city council this year, all the community leaders, they said, 'We have been waiting for this moment for far too long. For almost 100 years,’” Yi recalled.

Their candidacies are a potential moment for representation in America that each of them and their community hopes lead to better a better understanding and acceptance of their people and all immigrants.

“We come here because not only do we think we can get something from this country, but also we think we can contribute,” said Chen. “Immigrants have always demonstrated a bonus and bravery to this country.”

WALLACE, La. — Just inside the levee holding back the mighty Mississippi River, there is a quiet stillness in the land and a story that is still unfolding after more than two and a half centuries.

The place is known as the Whitney Plantation, which dates back to 1752.

“We just have a lot to contend with,” said Joy Banner. “When we think about plantations, most people erroneously use the word ‘plantation’ to refer to the ‘Big House’ and the ‘Big House’ only.”

Not there, though: the ‘Big House’ is not the main attraction.

That’s by design.

“This interpretation is based around the life, labor and the culture of the enslaved people,” she said.

Joy Banner’s ancestors once worked in the surrounding fields as slaves. She now works for the nonprofit foundation that runs the Whitney Plantation.

“There is so much trauma and so much pressure on Black people to just push it on the side and move forward: ‘Don’t make anyone uncomfortable with it,’” she said. “So, I’ll be honest, I’m unpacking my feelings about the cabins, the plantations, every single day.

Seven years after opening to the public, the Whitney remains one of the only plantations in the country whose entire focus centers on the people who were enslaved there.

“If we are presenting true history, then I don't see there being any other choice, but to center it around enslaved people,” Banner said.

Inside a church on-site, visitors are greeted by life-like statues known as the "Children of Whitney."

“In the face of everything that is happening to them, they drew from their faith,” Banner said, as she looked around the church and at the statues. “They just have a presence and they have a humanness – a humanity about them – that really makes you feel like you’re in company with them.”

There are no shoes on the feet of the children's statues. Their clothes are threadbare.

“It’s a reminder that the system of slavery impacted children as well,” she said.

Even after Juneteenth and news of their emancipation, not everyone on the plantation could afford to leave. Many stayed and worked the land under a new system, not slavery in name, but difficult to get out from under.

“In the case of Whitney, there's a plantation store. And so, all of their staples, all of their groceries, items that they need, are purchased from the store, which is then deducted from their wages. So, then you have a system of debt that's created and perpetuated,” Banner said. “And so you have generations of people that stay on the plantation and work on the plantation.”

People worked the land there well into the late 20^th century.

“Until the 1970s,” Banner said. “The cabins that we have here on-site, we have two original cabins, there were people that were living in them until the mid-1970s.”

The cabins are a stark reminder of slavery and have been moved to be located much closer to the "Big House" than they were in the past.

“Sometimes, I’m in this desensitized mode, just to go about my day,” Banner said, “and then there’s other days where I just walk by the cabin and I’m just like, ‘People lived here. Like, my ancestors lived here.”

It’s also emotional: a place of uncertainty and pain in the past that is still felt today.

“Think of the trauma – it may be a person that has just been separated from their family. Because that person that you welcome into your family unit, and that you love as part of your family, he could be sold tomorrow,” Banner said, as she held back tears. “So, when people love someone else in a community, that’s an act of resistance, to stay human and to stay connected with each other.”

For the 100,000 people who visit each year, she hopes their message about what plantations were really like historically helps them think about what racism looks like today.

“I would also encourage people to understand how does racism take shape and form in their own communities,” Banner said, “and what is it that we can do to learn more or to help more.”

It’s a message they hope will resonate throughout the land.

CINCINNATI — Despite the many struggles of 2020, Greater Cincinnati made progress in one important area.

Hamilton County had a record-low infant mortality rate last year, according to Cradle Cincinnati, a community advocacy group working to reduce infant mortality.

A total of 76 babies died before their first birthday in 2020 in Hamilton County. That’s 20 fewer than in 2019 and the fewest infant deaths by far since modern record-keeping began in 1968, Cradle Cincinnati said in a news release.

The county ended last year with an infant mortality rate of 7.4 deaths per 1,000 live births — an 18% decline from the five-year rate recorded between 2015 and 2019.

“The credit here belongs to our entire community,” Cradle Cincinnati executive director Ryan Adcock said in a news release announcing the results. “Despite all of the challenges of 2020, our community rallied around moms and babies like never before.”

Locally and across the nation, Black babies for years have been twice as likely to die before their first birthday. Because of that, Cradle Cincinnati has focused its work in recent years on reducing infant mortality among Black families.

In 2020, 36 Black babies died in Hamilton County, for a rate of 10.6 deaths per 1,000 live births. That represents a 42% decline since 2017 and an all-time low for the second year in a row.

While Black babies still are more likely to die than white babies locally, the 2020 results mark the first time since 1994 that Hamilton County’s Black infant mortality rate has been lower than the national average, which is currently 10.8 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to Cradle Cincinnati.

The fact that the improved rates still are more than twice that of all other racial categories shows that much work remains, Cradle Cincinnati’s release noted.

“It is important to remember that these are not merely numbers,” Dr. Meredith Shockley-Smith, Cradle Cincinnati’s director of community strategies, said in the release. “What this means is that 26 fewer Black babies died in our community compared to just a few short years ago. That’s an entire classroom full of students who can now grow up to help Cincinnati thrive.”

Other racial categories – including Asian, Hispanic and white – also had declines in infant deaths in 2020 when compared to 2019, according to the release.

The new data was released at the start of Cradling Cincinnati: A Virtual Experience on Maternal and Infant Health. The event runs from April 19 through April 24 and includes more than a dozen virtual events on topics related to the health of moms and babies in Cincinnati.

Community members can see the agenda and register for free online.

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region – to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on issues we need to address. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.

Several studies show that Black people are disproportionately killed by police in the U.S. And leaders, including President Biden, are calling for change.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham says the U.S. doesn't have an issue of systemic racism.

"We just elected a two-term African American president," Graham said. "The vice president is of African American Indian descent. So our systems are not racist. America's not a racist country. Within every society, you have bad actors."

The police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Daunte Wright, and several others have renewed the calls for a change in policing.

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which aims to ban certain methods of deadly force by police, end qualified immunity, and improve training, has passed the House with support from President Biden and is now at the Senate's hands. 

Video above from 2020: Birdwatcher asks people to stop making death threats against the woman who called the cops on him

The white woman who was widely condemned and fired after a videotaped dispute with a Black birdwatcher in Central Park filed a lawsuit against her former employer, accusing the company of not doing an investigation before her termination because of her race and gender.

In her federal lawsuit, Amy Cooper said the company, Franklin Templeton, "nurtured" the idea of the confrontation last May as "a racial flashpoint, characterized as a privileged white female 'Karen' caught on video verbally abusing an African American male with no possible reason other than the color of his skin."

File video: Central Park confrontation

She said in the lawsuit it wasn't racism that led her to call police but fear, because she was alone and being "aggressively" confronted, and that the company would have known that with an investigation.

Cooper, who had been working as a portfolio manager at the investment firm until she was fired in the backlash to the call, accused the company of discrimination, saying an investigation would have been done if she were not a white woman.

"We believe the circumstances of the situation speak for themselves and that the company responded appropriately. We will defend against these baseless claims," Franklin Templeton said in a statement.

The confrontation between Cooper and the man, Christian Cooper, who is not related to her, began over her dog being unleashed in a section of the park where that was prohibited.

Christian Cooper posted video on social media at the time telling her to go to another section of the park. The encounter escalated, with Amy Cooper warning him that she would call police and tell them there was an African American man threatening her life.

Related video: Birdwatcher asks people to stop making death threats against the woman who called the cops on him

She then did call, saying she was being threatened.

She was also charged with filing a false police report, which was dismissed in February after she completed a diversionary counseling program. Prosecutors said the program included education about racial equality and five therapy sessions.

In the lawsuit, she said Christian Cooper had a history of confrontations with dog owners over their animals being off-leash, and that it was his "practice and intent to cause dog owners to be fearful for their safety and the safety of their dogs."

Christian Cooper had no comment.

The 2017 death of an Asian American teenager in her Colorado home is now being investigated as a hate crime, according to the FBI.Maggie Long's body was found after officials responded to a house fire in Bailey, Colorado, the FBI said. According to 911 calls, there reportedly were people inside the residence causing damage, the FBI said. The report said at least one male was on the property.The crime scene investigation, the FBI said, revealed a physical altercation took place between Long and her assailants before the fire started. The agency reported the suspects stole a Beretta handgun, an AK-47-style rifle, 2,000 rounds of ammunition, a green safe and jade figurine.The El Paso County Coroner's Office ruled Long's death on Dec. 1, 2017, as a homicide, the FBI said.The FBI's Denver office didn't say which form of bias is being investigated in Long's case. The agency defines a hate crime as criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by the offender's bias against a religion, disability, ethnicity/national origin, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity.Sisters were initially surprisedCNN affiliate KUSA-TV spoke with the victim's sisters, Lynna and Connie Long, who said they were initially surprised when they learned the murder was being investigated as a hate crime."We just haven't experienced that type of violence firsthand, but knowing what happened to Maggie and just the nature of the violence, it is something that should be taken into consideration," Connie Long said. "Her race, her gender, you know, all of those are contributing factors for why these perpetrators thought it was OK to do that to her."Lynna Long added: "The crime that was committed against my sister is a crime that was committed against an Asian American woman." Park County Sheriff Tom McGraw, whose office is also investigating the murder, said treating the case as a hate crime allows his department to qualify for more funding and resources.McGraw said there are no known suspects. He said the sheriff's department, as well as the FBI and Colorado Bureau of Investigations, are pursuing leads whenever they are presented.The FBI and the Long family have pooled a $75,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the murder case."The biggest thing to get out is if you know anything, please call. You don't know how far something little will go," McGraw said.Lynna Long said the circumstances since the murder have changed, and she hopes that could incentivize people to come forward with information."Maybe now the people who may have known something in December 2017 are now in a place where they can speak to their truth," she said.