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Protests Against Police Brutality Spread Across the Country

HeadlineJul 08, 2016

Protests against police brutality are spreading across the country in the wake of the fatal police killings of African-American men Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. In Oakland, California, more than a 1,000 people blocked Interstate 880 for hours. Hundreds more marched in Denver, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Baton Rouge. More than 40 people were arrested amid a massive march in New York City. In Minnesota, thousands of people attended vigils for Philando Castile outside the Montessori school where Castile had worked and outside the governor’s mansion in St. Paul, where his girlfriend, Diamond “Lavish” Reynolds, spoke out.

Diamond “Lavish” Reynolds: “They held me in a room. No water, no food. They took my phone. No numbers. I don’t have my phone. They took over my Facebook. They took—nothing. They took my groceries. They took everything that I had at the time. And then they seized the car for evidence. They seized my phone for evidence. They seized my Facebook. Everybody who shared that video, they don’t want you guys to be a part of this. They don’t want us to stand up for one another. They don’t want us to support each other. They want everybody to stand up for them. They are going to tamper with evidence. They are going to tamper with witnesses. They’re going to do whatever they have to do to cover their butts. And this is not right. It’s not acceptable.”

Diamond Lavish Reynolds live-streamed the video of the aftermath of her boyfriend’s death, narrating while she was still in the car, with an officer pointing a gun at her and her daughter, as her boyfriend lay dying next to her. The officer who fatally shot Castile has been identified as 28-year-old Jeronimo Yanez. A second cop at the scene has been identified as Officer Joseph Kauser. Both officers are currently on paid leave. On Thursday, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton said the fatal shooting was motivated by racism.

Gov. Mark Dayton: “Would this have happened if those passengers, the driver and the passengers, were white? I don’t think it would have. So I’m forced to confront, and I think all of us in Minnesota are forced to confront, this kind of racism exists and that it’s incumbent upon all of us to vow that we’re going to do whatever we can to see that it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t continue to happen.”

We’ll have more on the fatal police killings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, as well as the shootings in Dallas, Texas, after headlines.

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