Latest news with #communityactivism
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Caroline O'Reilly obituary
My life partner, Caroline O'Reilly, who has died aged 71, was a fearless community activist and socialist. In the 1970s, when I first met her, Caroline was active in Southall, west London, helping to establish Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League, and was with her friend Blair Peach when he was killed by police in 1979. Later, having moved to Hackney, in east London, she organised against the poll tax. Caroline was a member of the Socialist Workers party from 1977 until she died, and was fond of paraphrasing Rosa Luxemburg that 'revolutionaries are the best fighters for reform'. In 1985 she toured South Africa on a covert solidarity visit, and in 1990 worked in Johannesburg with accountants who assisted 'struggle organisations'. In 1998 she and I moved to South Africa on a permanent basis. Caroline was involved in implementing the government-funded Community Work Programme, which, by 2012, employed 93,000 people in the most marginalised parts of the country. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Caroline played a pivotal role in the two most successful organisations to emerge from grassroots activity, the Community Organising Working Group and #PayTheGrants, both based in townships and informal settlements. Born in Cork, she was the oldest of the six children of Frank O'Reilly, a bank official, and Anne, a housewife; she went to school there, and, later, to schools in Carlow and Bundoran. She attended University College Cork, where she was involved in starting one of the first women's groups in Ireland, but at the end of her second year she moved to Britain. She worked in a canning factory in Lincolnshire, and then a pub in London, and from 1973 was employed by the Allied Irish Bank in the City, where she was a union representative. Seeking to develop herself intellectually, in 1990 she began to study information and communication at the University of North London. Later, while working for Christian Aid, she completed an MSc in development studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies. For most of our 27 years in South Africa Caroline and I lived in the Johannesburg suburb of Brixton, where she was part of the Community Forum. Before our return to London in 2024, she was honoured with a quilt made by community members. Caroline was adventurous and courageous. She stood up to violence, was shot at by soldiers in Belfast, ran out of breath on Mount Kenya, was charged by elephants in Botswana, was caught in sudden snow blizzards on the Cairngorms and in the Drakensberg mountains, and coped with me coming out as transgender. She could stun with one sentence, but was funny and warm. She made you laugh at yourself but you never felt ridiculed, just grateful for her advice, support, friendship and love. She is survived by me, and by her siblings Michael, Mary, Conor and Sally.
Arab News
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Former Minneapolis police chief recalls ‘absolutely gut-wrenching' moment of seeing George Floyd video
MINNEAPOLIS: Former Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo vividly remembers receiving a call around midnight from a community activist. The caller told him to watch a video spreading on social media of a white officer pinning a Black man to the ground, despite his fading pleas of 'I can't breathe.' The dying man was George Floyd. The officer was Derek Chauvin. And Arradondo was the city's first Black police chief. 'It was absolutely gut-wrenching,' Arradondo, 58, recalled in an interview ahead of the fifth anniversary of Floyd's murder. What he saw conflicted with what his own people had told him about the deadly encounter, and he knew immediately it would mean changes for his department and city. But he acknowledged he didn't immediately foresee how deeply Floyd's death would reverberate in the US and around the world. 'I served for 32 years,' he said. 'But there's no doubt May 25th, 2020, is a defining moment for me in my public service career.' The video shows Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck, pinning him to the pavement outside a convenience store where Floyd had tried to use a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes. Chauvin maintained the pressure for 9-1/2 minutes despite pleas from onlookers to stop, even after an off-duty firefighter tried to intervene and another officer said he couldn't find a pulse. 'Remnants of pain and anger' Arradondo sat for the interview in a public library that was heavily damaged in the unrest that followed Floyd's death. It's on Lake Street, a major artery that saw some of the worst destruction, a street that he says still bears 'remnants of the pain and anger of what occurred five years ago.' Just down the block, there's the empty shell of a police station that was torched during the riots. And within sight is a Target store and a Cub Foods supermarket that were looted. Storefronts remain boarded up. While some businesses were rebuilt, empty lots sit where others did not. Arradondo still stands by his and Mayor Jacob Frey's decision to abandon the Third Precinct and let it burn. Protesters breached the building, and police — who were spread thin — didn't have the resources to hold it. So he ordered his officers to evacuate. 'During the most significant crisis we've ever experienced, arguably in the state, when it's life or death, I've got to go on the side of keeping people alive and safe,' he said. Police reform Arradondo subsequently helped launch an overhaul of policing in the city despite a resistant police culture and a powerful officers union. He testified against Chauvin in his 2021 murder trial, a rare breach of the 'blue wall' that traditionally protects officers from being held accountable for wrongdoing. Five years on, Arradondo, who retired in 2022, said he believes law enforcement agencies nationwide have made progress on police accountability — albeit incremental progress — and that police chiefs and sheriffs now move faster to hold officers responsible for egregious misconduct. Arradondo was promoted to chief in 2017, and his elevation was greeted with hope among local African Americans who affectionately called him 'Rondo.' But his department had a reputation for being too quick to use force and many were angry about police killing young Black men in Minnesota and beyond. Arradondo said he wishes he had made more changes to the police department before Floyd was killed. 'I would have pushed harder and sooner at trying to dismantle some of the toxic culture that allowed that indifference to exist that evening, on May 25th, 2020,' he said. 'I certainly would have invested more time elevating the voices in our community that had been pleading with police departments for decades to listen to us and change.' Making amends Arradondo just published a book, 'Chief Rondo: Securing Justice for the Murder of George Floyd,' that explores leadership, justice and race, the broader impacts of policing, and the challenges of working within a flawed system. He closes it with a letter dedicated to Floyd's daughter, Gianna. 'I never had an opportunity to meet Gianna, but I wanted her to know that, even though I was not out there that evening, at that intersection when her father was pleading for help, that I heard him, and I was going to do everything I could to bring him justice,' he said. He wanted to say the words that she has not heard from the four former officers who were convicted for their roles in George Floyd's death: 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry for your father being taken from you.'
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ex-Minneapolis police chief recalls 'absolutely gut-wrenching' moment of seeing George Floyd video
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Former Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo vividly remembers receiving a call around midnight from a community activist. The caller told him to watch a video spreading on social media of a white officer pinning a Black man to the ground, despite his fading pleas of 'I can't breathe.' The dying man was George Floyd. The officer was Derek Chauvin. And Arradondo was the city's first Black police chief. 'It was absolutely gut-wrenching,' Arradondo, 58, recalled in an interview ahead of the fifth anniversary of Floyd's murder. What he saw conflicted with what his own people had told him about the deadly encounter, and he knew immediately it would mean changes for his department and city. But he acknowledged he didn't immediately foresee how deeply Floyd's death would reverberate in the U.S. and around the world. 'I served for 32 years," he said. "But there's no doubt May 25th, 2020, is a defining moment for me in my public service career.' The video shows Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck, pinning him to the pavement outside a convenience store where Floyd had tried to use a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes. Chauvin maintained the pressure for 9 1/2 minutes despite pleas from onlookers to stop, even after an off-duty firefighter tried to intervene and another officer said he couldn't find a pulse. "Remnants of pain and anger" Arradondo sat for the interview in a public library that was heavily damaged in the unrest that followed Floyd's death. It's on Lake Street, a major artery that saw some of the worst destruction, a street that he says still bears 'remnants of the pain and anger of what occurred five years ago.' Just down the block, there's the empty shell of a police station that was torched during the riots. And within sight is a Target store and a Cub Foods supermarket that were looted. Storefronts remain boarded up. While some businesses were rebuilt, empty lots sit where others did not. Arradondo still stands by his and Mayor Jacob Frey's decision to abandon the Third Precinct and let it burn. Protesters breached the building, and police — who were spread thin — didn't have the resources to hold it. So he ordered his officers to evacuate. 'During the most significant crisis we've ever experienced, arguably in the state, when it's life or death, I've got to go on the side of keeping people alive and safe,' he said. Police reform Arradondo subsequently helped launch an overhaul of policing in the city despite a resistant police culture and a powerful officers union. He testified against Chauvin in his 2021 murder trial, a rare breach of the 'blue wall' that traditionally protects officers from being held accountable for wrongdoing. Five years on, Arradondo, who retired in 2022, said he believes law enforcement agencies nationwide have made progress on police accountability — albeit incremental progress — and that police chiefs and sheriffs now move faster to hold officers responsible for egregious misconduct. Arradondo was promoted to chief in 2017, and his elevation was greeted with hope among local African Americans who affectionately called him 'Rondo.' But his department had a reputation for being too quick to use force and many were angry about police killing young Black men in Minnesota and beyond. Arradondo said he wishes he had made more changes to the police department before Floyd was killed. 'I would have pushed harder and sooner at trying to dismantle some of the toxic culture that allowed that indifference to exist that evening, on May 25th, 2020,' he said. 'I certainly would have invested more time elevating the voices in our community that had been pleading with police departments for decades to listen to us and change.' Making amends Arradondo just published a book, 'Chief Rondo: Securing Justice for the Murder of George Floyd,' that explores leadership, justice and race, the broader impacts of policing, and the challenges of working within a flawed system. He closes it with a letter dedicated to Floyd's daughter, Gianna. 'I never had an opportunity to meet Gianna, but I wanted her to know that, even though I was not out there that evening, at that intersection when her father was pleading for help, that I heard him, and I was going to do everything I could to bring him justice,' he said. He wanted to say the words that she has not heard from the four former officers who were convicted for their roles in George Floyd's death: 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry for your father being taken from you.'
Associated Press
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Ex-Minneapolis police chief recalls 'absolutely gut-wrenching' moment of seeing George Floyd video
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Former Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo vividly remembers receiving a call around midnight from a community activist. The caller told him to watch a video spreading on social media of a white officer pinning a Black man to the ground, despite his fading pleas of 'I can't breathe.' The dying man was George Floyd. The officer was Derek Chauvin. And Arradondo was the city's first Black police chief. 'It was absolutely gut-wrenching,' Arradondo, 58, recalled in an interview ahead of the fifth anniversary of Floyd's murder. What he saw conflicted with what his own people had told him about the deadly encounter, and he knew immediately it would mean changes for his department and city. But he acknowledged he didn't immediately foresee how deeply Floyd's death would reverberate in the U.S. and around the world. 'I served for 32 years,' he said. 'But there's no doubt May 25th, 2020, is a defining moment for me in my public service career.' The video shows Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck, pinning him to the pavement outside a convenience store where Floyd had tried to use a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes. Chauvin maintained the pressure for 9 1/2 minutes despite pleas from onlookers to stop, even after an off-duty firefighter tried to intervene and another officer said he couldn't find a pulse. 'Remnants of pain and anger' Arradondo sat for the interview in a public library that was heavily damaged in the unrest that followed Floyd's death. It's on Lake Street, a major artery that saw some of the worst destruction, a street that he says still bears 'remnants of the pain and anger of what occurred five years ago.' Just down the block, there's the empty shell of a police station that was torched during the riots. And within sight is a Target store and a Cub Foods supermarket that were looted. Storefronts remain boarded up. While some businesses were rebuilt, empty lots sit where others did not. Arradondo still stands by his and Mayor Jacob Frey's decision to abandon the Third Precinct and let it burn. Protesters breached the building, and police — who were spread thin — didn't have the resources to hold it. So he ordered his officers to evacuate. 'During the most significant crisis we've ever experienced, arguably in the state, when it's life or death, I've got to go on the side of keeping people alive and safe,' he said. Police reform Arradondo subsequently helped launch an overhaul of policing in the city despite a resistant police culture and a powerful officers union. He testified against Chauvin in his 2021 murder trial, a rare breach of the 'blue wall' that traditionally protects officers from being held accountable for wrongdoing. Five years on, Arradondo, who retired in 2022, said he believes law enforcement agencies nationwide have made progress on police accountability — albeit incremental progress — and that police chiefs and sheriffs now move faster to hold officers responsible for egregious misconduct. Arradondo was promoted to chief in 2017, and his elevation was greeted with hope among local African Americans who affectionately called him 'Rondo.' But his department had a reputation for being too quick to use force and many were angry about police killing young Black men in Minnesota and beyond. Arradondo said he wishes he had made more changes to the police department before Floyd was killed. 'I would have pushed harder and sooner at trying to dismantle some of the toxic culture that allowed that indifference to exist that evening, on May 25th, 2020,' he said. 'I certainly would have invested more time elevating the voices in our community that had been pleading with police departments for decades to listen to us and change.' Making amends Arradondo just published a book, 'Chief Rondo: Securing Justice for the Murder of George Floyd,' that explores leadership, justice and race, the broader impacts of policing, and the challenges of working within a flawed system. He closes it with a letter dedicated to Floyd's daughter, Gianna. 'I never had an opportunity to meet Gianna, but I wanted her to know that, even though I was not out there that evening, at that intersection when her father was pleading for help, that I heard him, and I was going to do everything I could to bring him justice,' he said. He wanted to say the words that she has not heard from the four former officers who were convicted for their roles in George Floyd's death: 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry for your father being taken from you.'
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, Nashville leaders speak out on ICE arrests at local town hall
After a week of repeated U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement operations left a number of South Nashville residents devastated, Senator Cory Booker, a prominent Democratic senator from New Jersey, visited Nashville to speak with a number of city leaders and community members at a packed town hall on May 9. Mass traffic sweeps began on May 4 and have continued throughout the week, with Tennessee Highway Patrol working in tandem with ICE agents in the heavily immigrant and Latino neighborhoods around Nolensville Pike and Harding Place. Local activists and lawmakers say the operations have since continued nightly, and claim the stops are the result of racial profiling. The THP in a May 7 statement said the sweeps have so far netted at least 360 traffic stops and nearly 100 people detained by ICE. The operations took city officials by surprise and sparked backlash and calls for actions from local and state leaders, a number of who spoke at the town hall held at First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill in Nashville. More: Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell: Recent ICE arrests caused 'deep community harm' In the packed nave of the historic church, Booker called the current immigration crackdowns a 'storm.' 'There are things going on in our country that I did not think would go on,' he said. 'I never imagine that people would be disappearing off of our streets. I never thought we would have an issue that if you say something that I don't like, you're out of this nation. They did that in the Red Scare…this is not normal.' Booker, whose mother is a Fisk University graduate, spoke on impacts he has seen similar immigrations sweeps inflict across the country, and took questions from multiple audience members, including the daughter of a local resident who was detained in Sunday's operation. 'This immigration assault in our country is not about keeping us safe,' he said. 'If it was about that, they would be doing what they said they would do: getting dangerous people off our streets…We need to have immigration enforcement that is not violating the fundamental rights of this nation like due process.' In a later conversation with The Tennessean, Booker reiterated the importance of protecting fundamental rights in the face of an immigration crisis. 'Every American should understand that an infringement on the First Amendment rights of anybody is a threat to the First Amendment rights of everybody,' he said. 'So when we see things — even if its speech we don't agree with — and its being used as a pretext for abducting someone and disappearing someone off our streets without due process, that should strike fear and worry in us about the erosion of the right. 'When will it be enough for you to speak up and say something against what we see happening? (President Donald) Trump continues to cross constitutional line after constitutional line. And all of us have to defend our constitution.' Nashville City Mayor Freddie O'Connell similarly did not mince words at the event, decrying the ICE presence as 'unwelcome visitors from Washington D.C.,' and demanding that law enforcement provide the names of those detained — a move that ICE officials have yet to do. 'We don't know their names, because they have been taken from our streets by Homeland Security,' he said, adding, 'Show us the names. Tell us the charges.' In addition to not knowing who was detained, O'Connell empathized with the community's prevalent attitude of concern regarding surprise arrests. More: Federal immigration agents arrest Newark mayor trying to enter NJ detention center 'I will tell you, in America, in this moment, in my hometown, I never expected to be having to ask my legal director multiple times a week some version of the question, 'If I do this will I get arrested?' ' O'Connell said, referencing the news that the mayor of Newark, New Jersey had been arrested mere hours before, after being charged with trespassing in an ICE facility. The USA TODAY Network - Tennessee's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@ by phone at 931-623-9485, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville ICE arrests: Cory Booker, Freddie O'Connell speak out
