Democracy Now!

In Long-Awaited Victory, SCOTUS Rules LGBTQ Workers Protected by the Civil Rights Act, Atlanta Mayor Orders New Police Rules After Killing of Rayshard Brooks, 911 Dispatcher Raised Concerns About Police Treatment of George Floyd During His Arrest and Killing, Protester Shot in Albuquerque While Toppling Racist Statue; Right-Wing Militia Members Arrested, 19-Year-Old BLM Protester Oluwatoyin "Toyin" Salau Found Dead One Week After Disappearance, Mourners Demand Justice for Killing of Black Teenager Na'Kia Crawford in Ohio, FBI, DOJ to Review Probes into Two Black California Men Found Hanging from Trees, U.N. Human Rights Body to Hold Urgent Debate on Racism and Police Brutality in the U.S., Cities and States Adopt New Police Rules Amid Mass Uprising, SCOTUS Hands Down Decisions on CA Sanctuary Law, Second Amendment Cases, Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Trump Defends Hydroxychloroquine for COVID, Blames Testing for Surge in Cases, Latin American Countries Grapple with Surging Coronavirus Cases, Federal Gov't Schedules Four Executions, Breaking Nearly 2-Decade Moratorium, Trump Admin Reinterprets Cold War Arms Treaty to Allow Saudi Arabia, UAE to Buy U.S. War Drones, Russian Court Sentences U.S. Citizen Paul Whelan to 16 Years for Espionage, South Korea Reports North Korea Blew Up Liaison Office as Tensions in Region Mount, Hundreds of Nigerian Refugees in Netherlands Missing, Likely Victims of Trafficking, European Human Rights Court Grants Victory to Palestinian Rights Activists, Says BDS Is Free Speech

In a rare development, a New York police officer has been charged with assault, criminal mischief, harassment and menacing, after a viral video showed him violently shoving a peaceful protester to the ground as he shouted an expletive and a misogynistic slur. We speak with Dounya Zayer about the attack she faced during a protest against police brutality in Brooklyn on May 29 and how she suffered a seizure and was hospitalized with a concussion. We're also joined by one of her attorneys, Tahanie Aboushi.

As protests against racism and police violence continue across the United States, we speak with Derrick Sanderlin, a San Jose community organizer who has spent years training police on avoiding implicit bias toward people of color, but an officer from the same police department shot him in the groin with a rubber bullet during a May 29 protest against racism and police violence, rupturing Sanderlin's testicle and possibly affecting his ability to have children.

Protests have erupted in Atlanta, where the police killing of unarmed African American man Rayshard Brooks in a Wendy's parking lot has outraged residents. The autopsy revealed that Brooks was shot in the back as he was running away, and the death has been ruled a homicide by the county medical examiner. Brooks's killing comes as protests against racism and police violence continue across the country. The Atlanta police chief has already resigned, and the officer who shot Brooks has been fired. "What we saw happen to Mr. Brooks is unfortunately something that we continue to see repeated in our communities all across this country," says Mary Hooks, co-director of Southerners on New Ground, which is part of the National Bail Out collective and the Movement for Black Lives. "What we continue to see is police being called in as first responders to things that they should not be showing up for."

Protests Intensify in Atlanta over Police Killing of Rayshard Brooks, Calls Mount to Investigate as 2 Black Men Found Hanging from Trees in California, 10 Days Apart, 2 More Black Transgender Women Are Killed; Trump Slashes Health Protections for Trans People, Black Lives Matter Protests Gain Steam Across the U.S. and Around the World, SFPD Will Stop Responding to Noncriminal Complaints as Wave of New Policies Takes Shape Across U.S., Seattle City Council Considers Bills Banning Chokeholds and Tear Gas, 21 States See Increase in Daily Coronavirus Cases as Researchers Warn of a Second Wave, Brazil Now Has 2nd-Highest COVID-19 Death Toll; WHO Warns Cases Accelerating in Africa, New Video Shows Police Kicking Handcuffed Black Teen in Tulsa After Arrest for Jaywalking, Tulsa Police Major: We're Shooting African Americans 24% Less Than We Ought to Be, Trump Reschedules Tulsa Rally After Juneteenth Criticism, RNC Moved to Jacksonville, Trump to Accept Nomination on Anniversary of KKK Attack , Filipina Journalist Maria Ressa Convicted in Major Blow to Press Freedom

"Neither party represents the future that we need in this country — both parties remain connected to corporate capitalism," Angela Davis says of the 2020 election. "We're going to have to translate some of the passion that has characterized these demonstrations into work within the electoral arena, recognizing that the electoral arena is not the best place for the expression of radical politics."

President Trump will resume holding indoor campaign events starting with a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 19, a day known as Juneteenth, that celebrates African Americans' liberation from slavery. The rally also falls on the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa race riots, one of the worst acts of racial violence in U.S. history, in which white residents killed hundreds of their African American neighbors. Legendary scholar Angela Davis says it's important to recognize that Trump "represents a sector of a population in this country that wants to return to the past … with all of its white supremacy, with all of its misogyny." Given the historic uprising against racism and state violence, "We cannot be held back by such forces as those represented by the current occupant of the White House," she says.

The destruction and removal of racist monuments in cities across the United States during recent weeks is part of an overdue reckoning with "historical racisms that have brought us to the point where we are today," Angela Davis says. "Racism should have been immediately confronted in the aftermath of the end of slavery."

The uprising against police brutality and anti-Black racism continues to sweep across the United States and countries around the world, forcing a reckoning in the halls of power and on the streets. The mass protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 have dramatically shifted public opinion on policing and systemic racism, as "defund the police" becomes a rallying cry of the movement. We discuss the historic moment with legendary scholar and activist Angela Davis. "One never knows when conditions may give rise to a conjuncture such as the current one that rapidly shifts popular consciousness and suddenly allows us to move in the direction of radical change," she says. "The intensity of these current demonstrations cannot be sustained over time, but we will have to be ready to shift gears and address these issues in different arenas."

India Coronavirus Cases Surge Amid Global Rise in COVID-19, Graves on Copacabana Beach Mark 40,000 COVID-19 Deaths in Brazil, Guatemala City Hospitals Near Collapse Amid Surge in Coronavirus Patients, Oregon Pauses Lifting of Coronavirus Lockdown as Cases Hit New High, Another 1.5 Million U.S. Workers Filed Unemployment Claims Last Week, One Minneapolis Officer Charged in George Floyd's Killing Released on Bond, Minneapolis Police Chief Suspends Union Talks Following George Floyd's Killing, Austin City Council Votes to Reinvest Police Funds, Restrict Police Use of Force, Texas Grand Jury to Hear Case of Austin Officers Who Shot and Killed Michael Ramos, National Guard Bullet Killed David McAtee, Beloved Louisville Restaurateur, Louisville Adopts Ban on No-Knock Warrants, Named for Police Victim Breonna Taylor, Bronx Teen Jahmel Leach, Shot in Face by Police Taser, Describes NYPD Brutality, "I Can't Breathe": Bodycam Video Shows Derrick Scott's Killing by Oklahoma City Police, 13-Year-Old Handcuffed and Arrested for "Jaywalking" in Empty Tulsa Street, Trump Campaign Rallygoers Must Sign COVID-19 Liability Waiver, Joe Biden Calls for Increased Law Enforcement Funds Amid Calls to Defund the Police, Joint Chiefs Chair Sorry for Trump Photo Op After Brutal Crackdown on Peaceful Protest, Chicago Cops Caught on Camera Breaking Into Rep. Bobby Rush's Office to Make Popcorn & Nap, Massive Protests Erupt in Lebanon as Country's Currency Collapses, CBP Used Funds for Asylum Seekers' Food & Medicine to Buy Dirt Bikes & Riot Helmets, Trump Sanctions ICC Staff as Investigators Probe U.S. War Crimes in Afghanistan, "I Support It": NY Gov. Cuomo Rejects Calls to Tear Down Columbus Monument, Birmingham Comedian Charged with "Inciting a Riot" After Condemning Confederate Symbols

In Seattle, protesters have barricaded a six-block autonomous zone, after protests were met with a violent police response. Amid a days-long standoff, police removed barricades and abandoned their East Precinct building, and protesters moved into the area, declaring it "Free Capitol Hill." We go to Seattle to speak with Omari Salisbury, a citizen journalist who has been live-streaming the uprising and police crackdown.

As protests against police brutality and racism continue across the country, we speak with historian and UCLA professor of African American studies Robin D.G. Kelley. "We're not here by accident," Kelley says, crediting racial justice organizers for laying the groundwork for this moment over the last decade. "The real question now is whether or not this can be sustained."

A day after George Floyd's family laid him to rest in his hometown of Houston, his brother Philonise Floyd addressed lawmakers on Capitol Hill to demand an end to police violence. "I'm tired. I'm tired of pain," he told the House Judiciary Committee. "People of all backgrounds, genders and races have come together to demand change. Honor them. Honor George."

We look at the story of peace activist Martin Gugino, who was hospitalized in critical condition after being pushed to the ground by a police officer in Buffalo last week — an attack captured on video that has been viewed millions of times. On Tuesday, President Trump attacked the 75-year-old activist on Twitter, suggesting he staged his fall and was "an ANTIFA provocateur," echoing baseless claims from a segment on the far-right channel One America News Network. We speak with Lu Aya, a member of the New York-based group The Peace Poets, who organized with Martin in the group Witness Against Torture. "Martin, first and foremost, is just one of the kindest, most good-hearted people I've been lucky to walk with," Aya says. "Martin is someone who deserves, like all our elders, much more respect and care."

Protests in defense of Black lives and calls to defund the police continue across the U.S., from Los Angeles to Minneapolis and New York. We speak with Khalil Gibran Muhammad, a professor of history, race and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Suzanne Young Murray professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, about the significance of this moment and the history of policing in the U.S. "We haven't seen a moment like this in at least half a century," Muhammad says. "It's hard to know for sure where we're going to go from this moment, but it's clear that when we look at the history of policing, we have run out of options in terms of reform, in terms of thinking about what the police can do for themselves."

A private funeral was held in Houston Tuesday for George Floyd, two weeks after a Minneapolis police officer killed him by kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Floyd's death has sparked protests against police brutality and racism across the United States and around the world. We play excerpts from the funeral service and hear from Floyd's family and dignitaries.

George Floyd Laid to Rest, Two Weeks After Killing by Police Sparked Global Uprising, Coronavirus Cases Surge in States That Eased Lockdowns Two Weeks Ago, Georgia Election "Catastrophe" Disproportionately Affects Voters of Color, Protesters Topple Monuments to Slave Traders, Racists and Mass Murderers, Seattle Protesters Take Over City Hall as Calls Grow to Defund Police, New York State Will No Longer Hide Disciplinary Records of Police Officers, Phoenix Protests Demand Justice for Dion Johnson, Black Man Fatally Shot by State Trooper, Minneapolis Police Admit to Slashing Tires of Parked Vehicles During Recent George Floyd Protests, Activists Demand Arrest of Austin, TX Officers Who Left 2 Young Protesters with Head Trauma, San Jose Police Anti-Bias Trainer Shot in Groin by San Jose Police, Los Angeles Officer Faces Felony Assault Charges for Beating Unhoused Man, NYPD Officer Charged over Assault That Left Peaceful Protester Hospitalized, Trump Falsely Claims Peace Activist Assaulted by Buffalo Police Is “ANTIFA Provocateur", Moscow Eases Coronavirus Restrictions as Cases Continue to Surge, Brazilian Supreme Court Orders Government to Release Updated Coronavirus Data, WHO Retracts Claim That Asymptomatic People with Coronavirus Are Rarely Contagious, Burundi President Dies of Heart Attack Amid Speculation He Had COVID-19, Trump to Open Atlantic Maritime Monument to Commercial Fishing, Record Heat Wave Grips Russia's Arctic Circle, Paramount Network Cancels "Cops" After 33 Seasons

We go to Minneapolis, where the community has taken over a Sheraton hotel to provide shelter to more than 200 unhoused people amid protests and the pandemic. Now they face eviction. "Using hotels for emergency housing is an obvious answer," says Rosemary Fister, community organizer. "They are largely vacant as we enter an economic depression in the midst of a global pandemic."

As New York City begins to partially reopen, we look at what it means for the nation's largest public transportation system. "It's a very stressful and dangerous situation," says Seth Rosenberg, a subway operator, shop steward with the Transport Workers Union Local 100 and a member of a small coalition of transit workers called Local 100 Fightback. "The safety measures are not in place to protect transit workers or riders."

Immigration agents are facing accusations of targeting protesters who are recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Police in Phoenix, Arizona, arrested community activist Máxima Guerrero as she was leaving a protest on May 30 with a group of legal observers. She was one of three DACA recipients arrested over that weekend in Phoenix. We get an update from Sandra Castro Solis with the Phoenix-based grassroots immigrant justice group Puente Human Rights Movement, who says that despite the risks, "we're in a moment where people want to be out in the streets building that solidarity."

As protests against police brutality continue nationwide, immigrant rights advocates are sounding the alarm over the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at some of the demonstrations. A viral video showed a group of ICE agents working with the New York City Police Department to detain a protester at a George Floyd rally in New York City last week, and advocates say agents held the man on the ground as they pointed three guns at him and handcuffed and searched him. He was reportedly released after agents found a military veteran's ID on him, and is a U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican descent. We speak with Mizue Aizeki, deputy director at the Immigrant Defense Project.

Thousands Pay Their Respects in Houston as George Floyd Is Remembered by His Family, Chauvin Appears in Court, Bail Set at Over $1 Million, Video Shows Texas Police Killing Black Man After Minor Traffic Violation as He Pleads "I Can't Breathe", New Mexico Officer Charged with Killing Man in Neck Restraint During Traffic Stop, Democrats Unveil Police Reform Legislation, Take Knee to Remember George Floyd, Ramsey Orta, Who Filmed Police Killing Eric Garner, Released from Prison, Peaceful Protesters Injured and Killed Around the Country by Cars Ramming into Crowds, Protesters Establish Autonomous Zone Around Seattle PD Building as Police Retreat, France, U.K. Seek Changes in How They Handle Police Violence, Joe Biden Says He Does Not Support Defunding the Police, Palestinians Rally Against Israel Annexation Plans and in Support of Black Lives Matter, Global Coronavirus Cases Top 7 Million as WHO Warns Situation Worsening in Many Areas, U.S. Coronavirus Cases Surging in Many States as Restrictions Are Relaxed, Immigrant Rights Groups Say ICE Is Spraying Dangerous Chemicals on Prisoners During Pandemic, Ex-Salvadoran Colonel on Trial for 1989 Murder of Jesuit Priests, Peace Activist Liz McAlister Sentenced to Time Served for Breaking into Nuclear Sub Base in Georgia

As hundreds of thousands took to the streets nationwide and around the world to call for police accountability and demand Black lives matter in the wake of the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, Democracy Now! spoke to some of the people who joined the historic protests Saturday in New York City.

Professor Alex Vitale argues the answer to police violence is not "reform." It's defunding. The author of "The End of Policing" says the movement to defund the police is part of "a long story about the use of police and prisons to manage problems of inequality and exploitation." He asks, "Why are we using police to paper over problems of economic exploitation?" He also discusses the role of police unions. "They become, in many cities, the locus, the institutional hub, for a whole set of right-wing 'thin blue line' politics that believe that policing is not only effective but it's the most desirable way to solve our problems. And embedded in this is a deep racism that says that certain populations can only be managed through constant threats of coercion."

Amid growing calls in New York City for police accountability, Mayor Bill de Blasio has pledged to shift some of the city's funding for police and reallocate it to social services. We get response from Linda Sarsour, longtime Palestinian American Muslim organizer and co-founder of Until Freedom, which along with others has led the push to institute meaningful change. We also speak with author Mychal Denzel Smith, who notes that "one thing that's come of this global pandemic of COVID-19 is an understanding of what constitutes essential, what do we actually need. And police have shown that they are inessential."

After nearly two weeks of historic protests, the Minneapolis City Council has announced it will move to dismantle the city's police department in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. "We've got to create a system of public safety that works for everybody," says Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison.

Minneapolis City Council Announces It Will Disband Police Department, Uprising Against Racism, Police Brutality Brings Out 100,000s from Coast to Coast, D.C. Mayor, Protesters Paint Black Lives Matter Protest Call on Streets Leading to White House, Protests Mount Across the Globe as Racist and Colonialist Statues Targeted in U.K., Police Violence Against Protesters Results in More Deaths and Severe Injuries, Video Shows ICE Agents Arresting and Pointing Gun at Protester, Calls Mount to Prosecute Officers Who Killed African American Man, Manuel Ellis, in March, Family of Maurice Gordon, a Black Man Killed by NJ State Troopers, Demands Accountability, Editors Resign from NYT, Philadelphia Inquirer over Recent Coverage of Protests, Coronavirus Deaths Still Surging in U.S. as Trump Refuses to Wear Mask on Official Visits, Mexico Protests Erupt over Police Brutality, Brazil Stops Publishing New Coronavirus Data as Death Toll Mounts, Indigenous Leaders Demand Probe into Police Killing of Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation Woman, Charges Dropped Against 22 Wet'suwet'en Land Defenders, May Jobs Report Shows Unemployment Rose for Black People, as Trump Invokes George Floyd, 100+ North Carolina Death Row Prisoners Given Chance to Prove Racism Played Part in Their Sentencing, NFL Apologizes for Past Position on Anti-Racist Protests But Fails to Acknowledge Colin Kaepernick

The American Civil Liberties Union and Black Lives Matter announced Thursday they are suing President Trump and Attorney General William Barr for authorizing an "unprovoked and frankly criminal attack" on protesters at Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., where the National Guard and officers dressed in riot gear fired tear gas, rubber bullets and flashbangs to disperse peaceful protesters on Monday so Trump could have a photo op with a Bible in front of St. John's Episcopal Church. We look at the increasing militarization of the police with Stuart Schrader, author of "Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing."

As the nationwide uprising in defense of Black lives continues, demonstrators are recording videos of police brutality on the streets. We speak with Chris Frierson, an African American documentary filmmaker and cameraman who was filming a Black Lives Matter protest on Saturday in Brooklyn, New York, when police moved in on demonstrators. As Frierson filmed, police pepper-sprayed him directly in the face. Chris kept on filming as he struggled to the sidewalk crying in agony from the pain. Within seconds, someone took his arm and guided him to volunteer medics who came to his aid. We air his footage and speak about the incident.

On Thursday, disturbing new details were revealed in the case of Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old Black man who was chased, ambushed and shot dead by a group of white men in Georgia in what many have called a modern-day lynching. In a nearly seven-hour hearing, a state judge concluded all three men — Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan — would stand trial for Arbery's murder, after special agent Richard Dial of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation testified Travis McMichael said "f—ing n—" after shooting and killing Arbery. We speak with professor Carol Anderson, author of "White Rage," about Arbery's slaying, the nationwide protests, anti-lynching legislation being debated in the Senate and the upcoming election.

In Minneapolis, members of George Floyd's family, loved ones and supporters gathered for a tribute to his life. During the memorial service, people stood in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds — the amount of time police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd's neck as he pleaded for his life. We hear the voices of Floyd's brother Philonise and Reverend Al Sharpton, who urged those gathered "to stand up in George's name and say, 'Get your knee off our necks!'"

George Floyd Honored at Memorial with Rallying Cry: "Get Your Knee Off Our Necks", Bail Set at $750,000 for Three Officers Charged with Aiding & Abetting George Floyd's Murder , Killer Used Racist Slur as Ahmaud Arbery Lay Dying, Investigator Testifies, New York Judge Will Allow Protesters to Be Jailed for Over 24 Hours, NYC Mayor Booed as 10,000 Honor George Floyd at Brooklyn Memorial Service , Witnesses Say Vallejo, CA Man Killed by Police Was on His Knees with Hands Up, Buffalo Police Assault Leaves 75-Year-Old Protester Hospitalized with Head Trauma, Trump Builds a Wall Around the White House Amid Mass Protests, AG William Barr Blames Antifa, Without Evidence, for Protest Violence, Far-Right Extremists in Las Vegas Charged with Plotting Terror Attacks , African American Senators Blast Rand Paul for Stalling Anti-Lynching Bill, Press Freedom Groups Document Rampant Police Violence Against Journalists in Protests, Philadelphia Inquirer Journalists Call in Sick to Protest Headline "Buildings Matter, Too" , Global Confirmed Coronavirus Cases Top 6.6 Million as Brazil Records Record Daily Toll, CDC Chief Warns Social Distancing Message "Isn't Resonating", Black Lives Matter Says Law Enforcement Seized Face Masks Bearing Protest Messages, Trump Executive Order Waives Environmental Review for Infrastructure Projects, Climate Change Likely Triggered Largest Oil Spill in Russia's Modern History, U.N. Reports Thousands Killed with Impunity in Philippines "War on Drugs" , Confederate Statue to Be Removed from Richmond, Virginia, After Protests

We go to Louisville, where protesters are calling for charges against the officers involved in the death of Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old African American woman who was an emergency room technician treating COVID patients and was shot to death by police inside her own apartment in March. This comes as the National Guard fired shots at a crowd of protesters on Monday, killing David McAtee, a local barbecue restaurant owner who regularly gave police officers free meals. We speak with Sadiqa Reynolds, president and CEO of Louisville Urban League.

As Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison files charges against all four Minneapolis police officers involved in the killing of George Floyd, a mass uprising against police brutality continues. "At this point, we're looking at a nation and a world that has decided that what we saw happen on camera … is no longer acceptable, and we cannot continue to meet and ask and cry and beg for change. People have taken to the streets to demand change,” says Tamika Mallory, former national co-chair of the 2017 Women's March.

After more than a week of nationwide protests, all four Minneapolis police officers involved in the killing of George Floyd have been charged with murder or aiding and abetting murder in a case that triggered historic protests across the country. "If you look at the video … the pressure from all three officers on Mr. Floyd's body contributed to his death," says activist and civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, former president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP. "They heard the man pleading, saying 'I can't breathe,' and they had a callous disregard for his life."

Three Other Officers Involved in George Floyd's Killing Charged and Arrested, Protests Near White House Met by Unmarked, Heavily Armed Riot Officers, Pentagon Chief Reverses Decision to Withdraw Troops from D.C. Amid Protests, "Your Lives Matter": President Obama Backs Protests over George Floyd's Killing, 200+ New York Mayoral Staffers Demand "Radical Change," Police Budget Cuts, L.A. Protesters Demand Police Prosecutions as City Councilors Propose LAPD Budget Cuts, Sports Stars Join Protests over George Floyd's Killing, Monuments to America's Racist History Toppled Amid Mass Protests, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul Blocks Passage of Anti-Lynching Bill, Pope Francis Warns U.S. Against Turning "Blind Eye to Racism", New Jobs Figures Show 42.6 Million U.S. Workers Filed for Unemployment During Pandemic, Trump's Coronavirus Testing Czar Is Standing Down as U.S. Death Toll Tops 107,000, Public Health Experts Warn Police Tactics Put Protesters at Risk of COVID-19, Study Finds Hydroxychloroquine Does Not Protect Against Coronavirus Infection, Hong Kong Legislature Makes Disrespect of Chinese National Anthem a Crime

We look at a major development in the case of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., a Black man killed in his own apartment in White Plains, New York, during a police confrontation in 2011, after he accidentally triggered his medical alert pendant. On Monday, the 2nd Circuit of Appeals ruled a federal judge was wrong to dismiss parts of a lawsuit against the police for excessive use of force. "My family and I are extremely overjoyed that the original ruling was vacated," says Kenneth Chamberlain Jr. "I think that people are now coming together, and they're saying that extrajudicial killings and summary executions of unarmed Black men, women and children is no longer going to be tolerated." We also speak with the family’s attorney. "Most people would be able to agree that when you're at home sleeping and you haven't committed any crime, that you wouldn't expect that the police are going to break your door down and kill you — in particular if they're responding for a medical call where you think that they're there to help you," says Mayo Bartlett.

As historic protests against police brutality continue nationwide, we go to Houston, Texas, the longtime home of George Floyd, who was killed by Minneapolis police last week. More than 60,000 people took to the streets Tuesday to honor his memory. We hear Floyd in his own words and speak to two of his friends about his work mentoring young men in one of the city's historically Black communities, the Third Ward. He was "already preaching peace, love, God, unity, advocating against gun violence," says Corey Paul, Houston hip-hop artist and entrepreneur, who ministered with Floyd alongside Patrick "P.T." Ngwolo, pastor of the church Resurrection Houston.

Minnesota Opens Human Rights Probe of Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota AFL-CIO Calls on Police Union President to Resign over George Floyd's Killing, George Floyd's Family Members Join Protest March of 60,000 in Houston, Arrest Warrants Issued for Six Atlanta Cops Who Tased Black Students, Army's 82nd Airborne, Armed with Fixed Bayonets, Deploys to Washington, D.C., AG William Barr Personally Ordered Assault on Peaceful Protesters Outside White House, Australian Ambassador to Investigate Police Assault on Journalists Near White House, Mayor Warns Against Military Deployment in Streets of New York, Thousands of Portland Protesters Hold Die-In to Protest George Floyd's Killing, Puerto Rico Protesters Honor George Floyd, Denounce Island's Legacy of Racism, Palestinians Under Israeli Occupation Protest George Floyd's Death, Thousands Protest Racial Violence, Police Brutality in France, Brazil Sees Record COVID-19 Toll as U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Top 106,000, Trump Orders Republican National Convention Out of NC over Coronavirus Restrictions, Amid Pandemic and Protests, Voters Struggle to Cast Ballots, Ferguson, MO Elects First Black Mayor; Racist Iowa Congressman Steve King Loses Primary, Biden Says He "Won't Fan the Flames of Hate" After Trump Attacks Protesters, At Least 100,000 Evacuated in India as Cyclone Bears Down on Mumbai

Two autopsies have agreed George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police was a homicide. "I don't think that most of us are surprised that the county medical examiner tried to find a reason related to why George Floyd died that distanced it from law enforcement's role," says Nekima Levy Armstrong, civil rights attorney, activist, founder of the Racial Justice Network and former president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP. She also discusses the local history of police accountability: "What this does is illustrates the corruption that exists within Hennepin County, where you have law enforcement working collaboratively with the County Medical Examiner's Office, working collaboratively with the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, and ultimately resulting in people not being able to get justice when they are killed by police. This happens time and time again."

As thousands in Los Angeles continue to protest against police brutality and face mass arrests, Mayor Eric Garcetti is facing criticism for increasing the budget for the Los Angeles Police Department. Organizers have called on the City Council to enact a People's Budget that slashes money for police and invests in services for the community instead. "We have created a system that overrelies on law enforcement and prioritizes their money, their budget, their needs over everything else," says Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, and Reform L.A. Jails. "Now is the time that we redirect resources back into our communities."

As a historic week-long uprising against police violence continues and curfews are in place across the United States, President Trump has declared himself "the president of law and order" and threatened to send thousands of heavily armed soldiers into the streets. "President Trump's speech almost amounted to a declaration of war against Americans," says Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. We also speak with William Arkin, longtime reporter on the military, who notes Trump is getting "no pushback" from Defense Department officials.

Trump Threatens to Send Military into Streets to Crack Down on Nationwide Uprising, Protests Spread Around the U.S. and the Globe as Autopsies Confirm George Floyd Died of Homicide, Louisville Police Chief Fired After African American Man Shot and Killed Monday, 15,000 People Attend Youth Rally in Oakland, CA; Police Continue Attacks on Protesters, Outrage After White Bar Owner Who Shot and Killed 22-Year-Old James Scurlock Dodges Criminal Charge, Facebook Workers Stage Virtual "Walkout," Call Out Inaction on Trump's Posts Inciting Violence, Iranian Scientist Who Contracted COVID-19 in ICE Jail Is Deported, First Rohingya Refugee Dies of COVID-19 in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, Countries Move to Reopen Economies and Schools, But Uncertainty Remains, U.N. Says Billions Needed as Yemen Faces "Tragedy" Fueled by Coronavirus and Years of War, EPA Slashes Water Protections, Restricts States' and Tribes' Ability to Challenge Pipeline Projects, Siberia Experiences Record-Breaking Heat Wave, Accelerating Thawing of Permafrost

Calls to defund the police mount after police erupted into violence this weekend in response to widespread protests across the nation, arresting more than 4,000 people and attacking demonstrators with tear gas and rubber bullets. As police departments face increasing criticism for using excessive force on protesters, we get response from Professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, renowned scholar Professor Cornel West and attorney Bakari Sellers.

In a powerful address among people in Minneapolis protesting the police murder of George Floyd, activist and former Women's March co-chair Tamika Mallory demanded, "Charge the cops. … Charge them in every city across America where our people are being murdered."

As mass unrest engulfs the U.S., we speak with attorney and political commentator Bakari Sellers, whose new memoir "My Vanishing Country" was just published. One of the central moments in the book is the Orangeburg massacre of 1968, when police opened fire on a crowd of students gathered on the campus of South Carolina State University to protest segregation at Orangeburg’s only bowling alley. When the shooting stopped, three Black students were dead, 28 students were wounded. The nine officers who opened fire that day were all acquitted. The only person convicted of wrongdoing was Bakari Sellers's father, Cleveland Sellers, a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, known as SNCC. He was convicted of a riot charge and spent seven months behind bars. He was pardoned in 1993. We speak with Bakari Sellers about Orangeburg, 2020 and "400 years of systemic racism" in the U.S.

As thousands from coast to coast took to the streets this weekend to protest the state-sanctioned killing of Black people, and the nation faces its largest public health crisis in generations and the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression, professor Cornel West calls the U.S. a "predatory capitalist civilization obsessed with money, money, money." He also makes the connections between U.S. violence abroad and at home. "There is a connection between the seeds that you sow of violence externally and internally."

In the largest nationwide uprising since the 1960s, protesters shut down cities across the United States over the weekend following the police killing of George Floyd, an African American man in Minneapolis. "These are not just repeats of past events," says scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. "These are the consequences of the failures of this government and the political establishment … to resolve these crises."

Minneapolis Protests at Epicenter of Nationwide Uprising Met with More Police Violence, Louisville Police Shoot and Kill Man at Protest, New Yorkers Take to Streets Around City, Shut Down Traffic as NYPD Arrests Hundreds, Attacks Peaceful Crowds, Rep. Joyce Beatty and Two Columbus City Officials Pepper-Sprayed by Ohio Police, Video Shows 9-Year-Old Seattle Child in Distress After Reportedly Being Maced by Police, Protesters Rally in Front of Capitol, White House, as Trump Retreats to Presidential Bunker, Black Sacramento Teen Recovering After Being Shot in Face with Rubber Bullet, Atlanta Police Officers Fired After Tasing Two Students, Reporters Targeted, Attacked by Police While Covering Protests, Trump Tweets Plan to Designate Antifa a Terrorist Group, Black Transgender Man Tony McDade Shot and Killed by Tallahassee Police, Trump Pulls U.S. Out of World Health Organization, Coronavirus Surges in Brazil, Peru, Chile as Epicenter of Pandemic Shifts to Latin America, SCOTUS Says CA Can Restrict Church Services as Coronavirus Cases Mount, Journalist and Driver Killed in Kabul, Afghanistan, Bombing, Israeli Soldiers Kill Unarmed Autistic Palestinian Man in Occupied East Jerusalem, Four More Women Accuse Harvey Weinstein of Rape, Sexual Assault

As President Trump calls Minneapolis protesters "THUGS" and tweets, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," Twitter flags the tweet with a warning it glorifies violence, just as Trump signs an executive order to punish social media companies for how they monitor content. "Trump has prospered through his use of social media and its attention-hoarding algorithms to basically disinform and misinform people," says Ramesh Srinivasan, professor in the Department of Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.