Curfews took effect across several cities, but tens of thousands of people staged peaceful protests and impassioned marches across the U.S.
Protesters — raw, sad and angry over the killing of George Floyd and the disproportionately high number of black people who face injustice, violence and death — filled the streets again on Tuesday.
Mostly peaceful throughout the day, the demonstrators faced police officers, National Guard troops and other forces.
President Trump called New York protesters "lowlifes and losers," in a tweet posted Tuesday. Demonstrators throughout the country showed up, even in smaller towns such as Brattleboro, Vt., and Kingman, Ariz.
Minneapolis and the Twin Cities area more generally, has some of the most abysmal numbers on racial inequality in the nation. Here is a snapshot:
+ The median black family in the Twin Cities area earns $38,178 a year — which is less than half of the median white family income of $84,459 a year. This income inequality gap is one of the largest in the nation; only nearby Milwaukee, Wisconsin is worse. The state of Minnesota as a whole has the second biggest income inequality gap between blacks and whites in the entire nation; only the District of Columbia is worse.
Minneapolis is roughly 90 percent single-family zoning -- or will be, until the 2040 plan takes effect. Single-family home zoning was originally conceived as a legal way to keep certain neighborhoods as white as possible, and it still works today. Even now, south and southwest Minneapolis -- which have been dominated by racially restrictive covenants in the past -- are still overwhelmingly white. While about three-quarters of white families in the Twin Cities own homes, only about one-quarter of black families do.
+ Before the pandemic, the black unemployment rate in Minnesota was at a historic low, but it was still double the white rate. In 2016, the Twin Cities area black unemployment rate was more than three times the white unemployment rate.
+ According to the most recent census data, the black poverty rate in the Twin Cities area was 25.4%, which is over four times the white poverty rate of 5.9%. The Twin Cities area black poverty rate is significantly higher than the national black poverty rate of 22%, while the white poverty rate is significantly lower than the national one of 9%.
+ In 2019, the incarceration rate of blacks in the Twin Cities area was 11 times that of whites.
+ The state of Minnesota has one of the nation's worst education achievement gaps between blacks and whites. In 2019, it ranked 50th when it comes to racial disparities in high school graduation rates.
These data aren't about police bias directly. Instead, they are the persistent, troubling numbers that sit underneath the rising sense of unfairness, frustration, desperation and anger that we've seen over the last week. Keep in mind all these numbers were a snapshot of the situation *before* the economic collapse.
Mostly peaceful throughout the day, the demonstrators faced police officers, National Guard troops and other forces.
President Trump called New York protesters "lowlifes and losers," in a tweet posted Tuesday. Demonstrators throughout the country showed up, even in smaller towns such as Brattleboro, Vt., and Kingman, Ariz.
Tuesday kicks off with peaceful protests throughout the city
At the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday, police vastly outnumbered the peaceful protesters who had gathered there to sing gospel songs, offer prayers, and, in the words of one organizer, “be the voice of reason” when there is violence.
It was a peaceful start following a violent night of looting and police confrontations that ended with more than 700 people arrested, according to police officials. Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday urged local community leaders to help prevent violence and looting that have taken place amid protests following the death at the hands of the police of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
julia carmel (beefy baby)@julcarmProtestors by the south pool of the 9/11 Memorial are currently singing gospel songs and leading prayers
At the 9/11 memorial, Stephane Clerge, the 27-year-old who founded a group that organized the event, told the crowd, “People that want peace oftentimes stay home.”
“But it’s often in the violence that you should show yourself and be the voice of reason,” he said.
In Upper Manhattan Tuesday morning, a gathering of mostly white demonstrators assembled at 145th Street and Broadway. The group had collected water and face masks and planned to distribute them to other protesters. About 40 people surrounded one of the rally’s organizers, who is white, and announced they would head downtown to Foley Square to join another rally taking place there.
Less than 24 hours after President Trump, standing in the Rose Garden, declared himself the “president of law and order” — then strode past a crowd of peaceful protesters who had been sprayed with chemicals and roughed up by riot officers to clear his path — thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the White House on Tuesday, with some shouting their complaints at National Guard members. In New York, protesters defied curfew for a second straight night, marching across the Manhattan Bridge from Brooklyn — but this time, they were turned back after a police blockade prevented them from stepping into Manhattan. In O’Fallon, Mo., just a 30-minute drive from Ferguson, a 17-year-old who had never attended a protest before organized a large march, and ended up walking arm in arm with the city’s police chief.
Across a country upturned by a pandemic, in hundreds of cities from coast to coast, a movement making no explicit demands other than all-out racial justice showed no signs of stopping — or even slowing down.
Gov. Cuomo said Mayor de Blasio and the N.Y.P.D. “did not do their job last night.”
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday sharply criticized the New York Police Department and second-guessed Mayor Bill de Blasio’s handling of the widespread looting that seized parts of New York City on Monday night.
“The N.Y.P.D. and the mayor did not do their job last night,” Mr. Cuomo said. “It was rampant looting across the city last night that they did not stop.”“Look at the videos — it was a disgrace,” the governor said, adding that Mr. de Blasio “underestimates the scope of the problem” in controlling the nightly protests that have been marred by looting and violent outbursts from participants and police officers alike.
Mr. Cuomo said the state police and 13,000 members of the National Guard were on standby. But Mr. de Blasio has said he opposes bringing in the National Guard, as President Trump has encouraged.
“We do not need nor do we think it’s wise for the National Guard to be in New York City,” Mr. de Blasio said at his daily briefing on Tuesday, calling it unwise to bring “outside armed forces into a situation they are not trained for.”
The mayor extended the city’s 8 p.m. curfew through June 7 and promised to take action against the “outsiders,” “gang members” and “common criminals” he said were responsible for looting and violence in Manhattan and the Bronx on Monday night.
The mayor defended the police response to the looting, and called on civic, religious and neighborhood leaders to step forward and encourage peaceful protests while telling New Yorkers to prepare for a few more days of unrest.
Mr. Cuomo repeatedly said he would need to “displace” the mayor in order to send in the National Guard. But to do so now, he added, could make an already chaotic situation even worse.
But the governor made clear that the onus was on the mayor to get things under control.
“I am not happy with last night, and the police did not do their job last night,” the governor said. “What happened in New York City is inexcusable.”
Minneapolis Ranks Near The Bottom For Racial Equality
NPRMinneapolis and the Twin Cities area more generally, has some of the most abysmal numbers on racial inequality in the nation. Here is a snapshot:
+ The median black family in the Twin Cities area earns $38,178 a year — which is less than half of the median white family income of $84,459 a year. This income inequality gap is one of the largest in the nation; only nearby Milwaukee, Wisconsin is worse. The state of Minnesota as a whole has the second biggest income inequality gap between blacks and whites in the entire nation; only the District of Columbia is worse.
Minneapolis is roughly 90 percent single-family zoning -- or will be, until the 2040 plan takes effect. Single-family home zoning was originally conceived as a legal way to keep certain neighborhoods as white as possible, and it still works today. Even now, south and southwest Minneapolis -- which have been dominated by racially restrictive covenants in the past -- are still overwhelmingly white. While about three-quarters of white families in the Twin Cities own homes, only about one-quarter of black families do.
+ Before the pandemic, the black unemployment rate in Minnesota was at a historic low, but it was still double the white rate. In 2016, the Twin Cities area black unemployment rate was more than three times the white unemployment rate.
+ According to the most recent census data, the black poverty rate in the Twin Cities area was 25.4%, which is over four times the white poverty rate of 5.9%. The Twin Cities area black poverty rate is significantly higher than the national black poverty rate of 22%, while the white poverty rate is significantly lower than the national one of 9%.
+ In 2019, the incarceration rate of blacks in the Twin Cities area was 11 times that of whites.
+ The state of Minnesota has one of the nation's worst education achievement gaps between blacks and whites. In 2019, it ranked 50th when it comes to racial disparities in high school graduation rates.
These data aren't about police bias directly. Instead, they are the persistent, troubling numbers that sit underneath the rising sense of unfairness, frustration, desperation and anger that we've seen over the last week. Keep in mind all these numbers were a snapshot of the situation *before* the economic collapse.
In his first in-person address in months, Joe Biden called George Floyd’s last words in Minneapolis a “wake-up call for our nation.” Condemning Trump’s bellicose response to protesters, Biden linked the protests with the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and cast himself as a leader willing to embrace the moment. Likening Trump to the segregationist police chief the president quoted on Twitter last week, Biden stood before a backdrop of American flags at Philadelphia’s City Hall and repeatedly invoked the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Donald Trump has turned this country into a battlefield riven by old resentments and fresh fears,” Biden said. “We must not let our pain destroy us.”
- Biden acknowledged “the harsh reality that racism has long torn us apart,” saying it was “part of the American character.” He declared that it was time “for our nation to deal with systemic racism” and then followed through with some tangible commitments. He said he would set up a national police-oversight commission within the first 30 days of his presidency. He threw his support behind a bill that would ban police chokeholds. And he committed to ending the Defense Department policy of funneling excess military equipment to local police forces. (In Washington, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have begun to discuss curtailing the program.)
- Biden might have a point about that wake-up call: In two separate polls released yesterday, exactly 57 percent of Americans said the police were more likely to mistreat black people than to mistreat white people, far more than ever before on record. In both polls, about half of white Americans said so — a stark jump. In 2016, shortly after the killing of Alton Sterling, just 34 percent of the country said officers were more likely to use force against a black person, including only 25 percent of white people, according to a Monmouth University survey. In the poll that Monmouth released yesterday, three-quarters of all Americans said that racial discrimination was a “big problem” in the United States — 17 percentage points higher than in 2015
- Steve King, the Republican congressman from Iowa who last year capped a career’s worth of racist statements when he openly questioned why white supremacy was offensive, prompting G.O.P. leaders to suspend his committee appointments, appears to have arrived at the end of his run in Congress. He was narrowly defeated in the Republican primary yesterday by the businessman Randy Feenstra, who will now represent the party in the general election. It was the largest day of elections since the pandemic swept across the country, with eight states and the District of Columbia holding primaries. Also in Iowa, Theresa Greenfield, the Democratic establishment choice, won the nomination to face Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican incumbent widely seen as vulnerable. Biden handily won all nine Democratic presidential nominating contests.
As New York City prepares to start reopening, officials debate whether socially distant subways are possible.
New York City is still working toward lifting some virus-related restrictions on Monday, despite a curfew amid mostly peaceful protests against racism and police brutality. But one larger question looms: How can the city’s mass transit system safely accommodate all the people who are expected to return?
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the buses and subways, and Mayor Bill de Blasio have outlined their visions, but many details remain to be worked out.
On Wednesday, for instance, Mr. de Blasio reiterated his request that social distancing be enforced by limiting seating. “It is crucial that every other seat be blocked off so that it’s clear that you never end up sitting next to someone,” he said.
The agency dismissed the proposal.
“Like many of the mayor’s ideas, this is nice in theory but utterly unworkable,” an M.T.A. spokeswoman said in a statement. “The mayor’s plan would allow us to serve only a tiny percentage of our riders — likely around 8 percent.”
On Tuesday, in an open letter to the mayor, the agency released some elements of its plan: Full service will resume across the system on Monday, though subways will still close for nightly disinfecting from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Social-distancing floor markings will be set at stations. Workers known as “platform controllers” will try to reduce crowding.
Under the first phase of the city’s reopening, curbside retail pickup and nonessential construction and manufacturing can restart. The mayor has said he expected that at least 200,000 people would begin returning to work.
But the M.T.A.’s plan said that during that phase, subway and bus service would remain for “essential trips only.”
Mr. de Blasio had also asked that trains and buses skip stops if they are over capacity and that the agency “temporarily close stations when needed during peak hours,” which could make slow commuting. The agency’s letter to the mayor did not address either request.
Trump Denies, Then Admits, Going to White House Bunker During Protest
During an interview with Fox News Radio, the president also again falsely claimed the MSNBC host Joe Scarborough “got away with murder.”
President Trump on Wednesday first denied and then acknowledged that he had gone to a secure bunker in the White House as protesters demonstrated nearby but said he went there for an “inspection,” not because of concerns over his safety.
“Well, it was a false report,” Mr. Trump said during an interview with Brian Kilmeade of Fox News Radio, who had asked if he had been brought to the bunker along with his family as protests continued.
But then Mr. Trump reversed himself, and said he had gone to the bunker. But he did not say when he went to the bunker or with whom. “I wasn’t down — I went down during the day, and I was there for a tiny little short period of time, and it was much more for an inspection, there was no problem during the day.”
Mr. Trump added that he had been there “two, two and a half” times before because he had “done different things” related to inspecting the bunker.
The president’s account was contradicted by a person with firsthand knowledge who told The New York Times in a report published Sunday that on Friday night, Secret Service agents nervous for his safety abruptly rushed him to an underground bunker used in the past during terrorist attacks.
A second official familiar with the events said the agents acted after the White House’s security status was changed to “red” amid the protests, a warning of a heightened threat. Officials said the president was never really in danger, but that he and his family were rattled by the sometimes violent protests near the White House.
Mr. Trump’s concern over the perception that he was hiding prompted him on Monday to tell his staff that he wanted to take some kind of action to address that impression. After a discussion over whether to send the military into American cities, he decided instead to walk across Lafayette Square to a church damaged by fire the night before, but not before law enforcement officers used-riot control tactics, including pepper spray and other chemical irritants, dispersed a crowd of demonstrators to clear his path.
In the interview, Mr. Trump covered a range of other topics. Here are some of the other things the president said in the interview:
- When Mr. Kilmeade asked why he was focusing on things like fighting with the MSNBC host Joe Scarborough when so much turmoil was unfolding across the country, Mr. Trump again falsely claimed the former congressman was connected to the death in 2001 of Lori Klausutis, a young woman who worked for him.Mr. Trump said he “strongly felt” that Mr. Scarborough “got away with murder.” But a coroner determined that Ms. Klausutis’s death was an accident that happened when she fainted from an undiagnosed heart condition and died after hitting her head. The widower of Ms. Klausutis has pleaded that Mr. Trump stop using his wife’s death to attack Mr. Scarborough.
- He suggested that religious leaders criticizing his visit to St. John’s were members of the “opposition party” and said that the evangelist Franklin Graham and “many other people” had loved the visit.
- He dismissed recent polling showing Joseph R. Biden Jr., his Democratic challenger, with as much as a 10-point lead. “I have other polls where I’m winning,” Mr. Trump said, though he did not cite one. There are no public polls showing him beating Mr. Biden in the general election; a handful show the president statistically tied with Mr. Biden in some battleground states. Mr. Trump then bragged about his victory in the 2016 election.
At two points, Mr. Kilmeade tried to usher Mr. Trump off the phone, finally closing out the interview with “enjoy the rest of your day and all your meetings.”