A protest outside the residence of Judge Regina Chu demanded justice for #DaunteWright & transparency in the trial of ex-officer Kim Potter, calling on the judge to allow video & audio in the court during Potter's manslaughter trial-slated to start Nov 30. unicornriot.ninja/2021/protest-o…
Daunte Wright was 20 when he was shot to death by former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter during a traffic stop on April 11, 2021. Body camera video released, showed Potter shooting Wright with her firearm as she was yelling "Taser!" / #Thread 🧵 unicornriot.ninja/2021/the-daunt…
Kim Potter was fired & within a few days charged with second-degree manslaughter. She was booked into jail, bonded out within a few hours, & had law enforcement acting as personal security at her barricaded home in the immediate aftermath. / #Thread 🧵
In late May, the office of MN Attorney General Keith Ellison accepted the request from Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to lead the prosecution in the death of #DaunteWright. On Sept 2, Potter was given an additional felony, first-degree manslaughter. / #Thread 🧵
With Kim Potter’s trial scheduled to start on November 30, controversy is ramping up regarding the transparency of the proceedings after an order from Judge Chu prohibits video or audio recordings. / #DaunteWright#Thread 🧵 unicornriot.ninja/2021/protest-o…
Responding to Judge Chu's no video/audio order during Kim Potter's trial, a coalition of media organizations filed a motion of objection on October 29 & called "for an order directing that the trial of Defendant Potter be livestreamed via audio-visual equipment." / #Thread🧵
While the legal wranglings for transparency in Kim Potter's upcoming trial continue with motions, proposals, hearings, and denials, protests in the street haven’t ceased. Since the day #DaunteWright was killed, the community has been steady in its demand for justice. / #Thread🧵
"We demand that we get cameras & live streamers in the courtroom!" - Brandyn Tulloch
UPDATE: Two days after a protest outside Judge Regina Chu's residence calling on transparency in the Kim Potter trial, Judge Chu reversed her decision and has ruled that cameras WILL be allowed in court. Judge Chu cited the surge in #COVID19 cases & not the protest. #DaunteWright
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On January 7, an ICE agent shot and killed an observer near 33rd and Portland Aves., only the most recent in a series of abuses of power that have steadily mounted in recent weeks. The Minneapolis Police Department once again appeared on the scene for “crowd control."
Local police arrived after federal agents sprayed chemicals on residents who responded to the shooting – part of a larger pattern in Minnesota of integrated police actions between federal, county and local law enforcement.
New: Cop City RICO Cases Dismissed Years After 61 Activists Charged as Criminal Conspiracy
Racketeering charges against dozens indicted as co-conspirators in the Stop Cop City movement were dismissed yesterday marking a legal victory for the movement
The dismissal comes after more than two years of attempted prosecution that sought to convict protesters who opposed Atlanta’s sprawling police training facility, known as Cop City, as an organized criminal enterprise.
In September, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer said from the bench that he planned to dismiss the charges, but the decision was only made official yesterday.
8 years ago today: A coalition of neo-nazi groups held the so-called "#UniteTheRight" rally in Charlottesville, VA - after planning online for months to carry out racially motivated violence.
The even ended early after being outnumbered by militant antifascists.
Police stood down most of the day as fascist groups openly carried out attacks while using slurs. After the rally was shut down, one neo-nazi ran into protesters with his car, killing Heather Heyer.
(The cop keeping the road closed had been allowed to leave her post earlier.)
Virginia State Troopers monitoring protesters discussed wanting to mass arrest anti-racists - who they called "motherfuckers" - shortly before the car attack.
(See our 2019 story: "Neo-Nazi Gets Multiple Life Sentences In Federal Prison for Charlottesville Car Attack")
During the first Trump administration we obtained hundreds of pages of special agent manuals from ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in full - we released w/o redactions. It includes everything from denaturalization, to 'special response teams' to undercover operations:
Icebreaker Pt 1 – Secret Homeland Security ICE/HSI Manual for Stripping US Citizenship unicornriot.ninja/2018/icebreake…
"...denaturalization efforts are in line with the Trump Administration’s policies stripping DACA and Temporary Protected Status from hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have been contributing to this country for years." — Jennifer Chang Newell, managing attorney with the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project
Icebreaker Pt 2 – Confidential Homeland Security Asset Forfeiture and Search and Seizure Handbooks unicornriot.ninja/2018/icebreake…
"the [handbooks] ... exposes the inner workings of an extrajudicial system that has destroyed people’s lives without due process. This shadow system skirts the checks and balances that have traditionally staved off at least some abuses of power and gives the elite who run this country the unfettered ability to manipulate outcomes.” – Michelle Gross, Communities United Against Police Brutality
Current DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has often espoused racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric tied to the neo-nazi-originated “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory and embraces adopting anti-LGBTQ policies. Oh and she shot the family dog.
Mike Huckabee is Trump's ambassador to Israel.
He's rubbed elbows with actual white supremacists (Council of Conservative Citizens, pro-segregation), demonized gay people, and claimed "there's no such thing as a Palestinian."
During his three-minute speech at President Donald Trump’s second presidential inauguration, Elon Musk performed a Nazi salute multiple times while emphasizing how this election “really mattered” and thanking the crowd “for making it happen.”
While some news outlets avoided describing the clear gesture as a Nazi salute, various scholars and activists named it as such, describing the nod to fascist propaganda as a grim signal of what Musk and the incoming administration hope to accomplish in this country.
“We need to state the obvious, of course: it was a Nazi salute,” Cindy Barukh Milstein told Unicorn Riot. Milstein is a diasporic queer Jewish anarchist, writer, and longtime organizer.