<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11896850" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="minneapolis" source="Orion">Minneapolis</keyword> has agreed to pay $600,000 to journalist <keyword id="14109860" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="linda-tirado" source="Orion">Linda Tirado</keyword>.</li><li>Tirado lost her left eye after police shot rubber bullets at her during a <keyword id="11965126" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="black-lives-matter" source="Orion">Black Lives Matter</keyword> protest.</li></ul>For two years, Linda Tirado has had to relive the day that Minneapolis police <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/linda-tiradoblinded-in-one-eye-after-shot-by-police-2021-2">opened fire on her</a> while she covered a Black Lives Matter protest in the city, blinding her in one eye with a "less-lethal," but nonetheless life-changing, round of ammunition.The incident — which she believes was deliberate targeting of the press — prevented the freelance writer, photographer, and mother of two from continuing to cover social movements. Lacking health insurance, she racked up six figures of debt paying for her own (and ongoing) physical and mental therapy.Still, while she could not forget that day in May 2020, Tirado could not fully process it. One of the "specific cruelties of litigation," she said in an interview, is that she couldn't write anything down about what happened to her.That changed Thursday night when Minneapolis Mayor <keyword id="12460101" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="jacob-frey" source="Orion">Jacob Frey</keyword> signed a settlement agreement under which the city has agreed to pay Tirado $600,000, resolving a <keyword id="11899820" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="law" source="Orion">law</keyword>suit she filed against the city and its law enforcement.The settlement also affirms the Minneapolis Police Department's stated commitment to, going forward, using "only the force that is objectively reasonable to effectively bring an incident under control" — and only using crowd-control methods explicitly authorized by top brass, rules added to the force's training manual after, but not explicitly because of, the Tirado incident.There is no apology — indeed, the city insists it is not an admission of liability (a spokesperson declined to comment). But Tirado is nonetheless pleased, even if the money she gets will not even cover her own medical bills. Now, at least, she can keep a journal again without fear that it will be subject to discovery in a lawsuit; she can process her trauma."There's something incredibly freeing about being able to write without having to think of how my rough drafts will be perceived," she said. After pivoting to nature photography in the year after she was blinded, Tirado can also now return to telling human stories — of people on the margins — without fear that those communications could too end up in a court of law. She's now in Germany, <a href="https://lindatirado.substack.com/">reporting for Substack</a> on the plight of Syrian and Afghan refugees."I couldn't say it's a homecoming, because nothing is the same — it never will be again," Tirado said. "But it does feel like I'm walking on some familiar paths again."<iframe src="https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/22051688-tirado-signed-settlement-agreement/?embed=1&amp;responsive=1&amp;title=1" title="Tirado Signed Settlement Agreement (Hosted by DocumentCloud)" width="700" height="905" style="border: 1px solid #aaa; width: 100%; height: 800px; height: calc(100vh - 100px);" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-forms allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox"></iframe>When civil unrest broke out across the country following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, dozens of journalists were <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/journalists-demand-end-harassment-after-police-launch-over-100-attacks-2020-6">injured while trying to report</a> on the aftermath. Tirado is not the only one who believes they were targeted, and not just by police in Minnesota. In Portland, for example, photographer Trip Jennings recounted in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/portland-journalist-recounts-being-shot-in-the-face-by-police-2020-7">an interview with Insider</a> how he was lucky to avoid serious injury. "As soon as I exposed something that was vulnerable, which was my face, they shot me," he said of federal agents that had been deployed there by the Trump administration.Tai-Heng Cheng, a partner at the high-powered corporate law firm Sidley, who represented Tirado pro bono, said it was his hope that such incidents would be reduced by the settlement. At the very least, others who believe they are victims of unjustified force will have a document they can use in their own litigation."Now we have it in writing — and in representations in this settlement — that this is what police are supposed to do," Cheng said, a fact that should help any future victims. "You cannot tell me that you could have shot and blinded a journalist such as Linda if you were following the police department's manual."That, more than the money, is why Tirado says she agreed to the settlement. It's just a shame, she said, that the $600,000 is coming from the city's general fund, not the police. "It's frankly bullshit," she said. She plans to give a percentage of the settlement back to the community herself.And while she doesn't think it alone will change policing in America, Tirado does hope her ordeal and the settlement it resulted in will nudge the country in the right direction."I think that these reforms take a thousand pushes and a thousand nudges until you hit a tipping point," she said. In a free and fair society, she argued, for police as for everyone else: "there will be consequences if you go out and shoot civilians."Have a <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">news</keyword> tip? Email this reporter: <a href="mailto:cdavis@insider.com">cdavis@insider.com</a>

Minneapolis agrees to pay $600,000 to journalist Linda Tirado, who lost an eye covering a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="9328774" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="linda-tirado">Linda Tirado</keyword> was covering a protest when she she shot by police with a "less-lethal" munition.</li><li>The incident left her blind in one eye. She's suing police and the city of Minneapolis.</li><li>In an interview, she discussed a recent court victory and her hope for justice.</li></ul>The arc of history may ultimately bend toward justice, but Linda Tirado says she isn't waiting around for the passage of time. "I think that, every step in the process, the judicial system has a chance to kind of nudge things toward being more right," Tirado said in an interview following a legal victory that could have broad ramifications for police and how they treat reporters. "And I think that any time you can nudge things towards being more correct or more just, that's a net good outcome, not only for me but for anybody who's going to be affected by this."A freelance photojournalist, she says she was <a href="https://www.insider.com/journalist-blinded-during-george-floyd-protests-files-lawsuit-against-minneapolis-2020-6">shot in the face last summer</a> with a "less-lethal" round fired by a cop in Minneapolis, where, identified as press, she was covering <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/june-7-protests-george-floyd-black-lives-matter-photos-2020-6">the civil unrest</a> that followed the <a href="https://www.insider.com/george-floyd-begged-police-not-to-shoot-body-cam-transcripts-2020-7">police killing of George Floyd</a>.It left her partially blinded, in pain - the headaches persist to this day - and racking up tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills for two surgeries. In a lawsuit filed last year, Tirado alleged that she was not the victim of a mere accident, but of a conspiracy, involving city leaders, police, and recently retired union boss (and Trump rally speaker) <a href="https://www.insider.com/minneapolis-police-union-president-called-protests-terrorist-movement-2020-6">Bob Kroll</a>, to tolerate rank-and-file officers targeting the press.Last August, Kroll filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint. The police chief did as well. The city filed a motion to dismiss part of the amended complaint. (The city did not dismiss Tirado's "common-law battery claim.")"How am I doing? It's pretty mixed, man," Tirado said in an interview, eight months later. "It's a pandemic, and I don't have sight in my left eye."Tirado has slowly returned to her craft; she now specializes in extreme close-up photography, while still venturing out to cover protests from time to time. "When I'm using a camera, I find I'm able to see what I could before, and that's been really kind of soothing," she said.Beyond the comfort of a routine, Tirado also has that court victory.In a <a href="https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20491477-2021-02-22-memorandum-opinion">February 22 order</a>, US Judge John R. Tunheim wrote that what happened to Tirado was not only "serious and troubling," but seemed to be part of pattern that gestures toward a policy of institutional disregard for the US Constitution. "Although not every incident involved the use of foam bullets or projectiles," Tunheim wrote, "the alleged police misconduct toward journalists occurred under similar circumstances: journalists were identifiable as press, separated from protestors and at a distance from police, and were not engaging in any threatening or unlawful conduct."The judge, while not in a position to issue a final judgment, did determine that Tirado's lawyers (at the powerhouse firm <keyword id="214106" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sidley-Austin">Sidley Austin</keyword>) had made a compelling case that the <keyword id="6355470" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="law">law</keyword>suit should move forward. To dismiss it as but a single injustice from one police action would give police a de facto "window" for violating the constitution on the basis that, legally - as the city and its law enforcement argued - it is not possible to demonstrate a pervasive, formal custom of abuse based on actions that transpired over a period of just a few days.In Minneapolis, over a half-dozen other journalists alleged abuse at the hands of police around the time of Tirado's injury. These incidents were widely reported, her attorneys note, arguing that subsequent failure to rein in police suggests widespread complacency, if not outright support."There are important constitutional rights that we believe were violated," Tai-Heng Cheng, global head of international arbitration and trade at Sidley Austin, told Insider. He took up the case not because it's a singular injustice, but because it speaks to a broader and systemic wrong in the United States. "This case of course is important not just for Linda, but for journalists everywhere - and especially for journalists who put their lives at risk in covering civil protests in America."This week's ruling means that Tirado's legal team can now proceed with discovery, gaining access to communication between the city, the police, and their union. The goal is to demonstrate that the repeated targeting of the media was known, and hardly discouraged.A spokesperson for the city of Minneapolis declined to comment.Law enforcement elsewhere will likely be watching the case, and not just on the local level. In Portland, for example, Trip Jennings, who has worked with PBS and National Geographic, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/portland-journalist-recounts-being-shot-in-the-face-by-police-2020-7">told Insider last June</a> - just weeks after Tirado was shot - that he believed he was likewise targeted by law enforcement with a less-lethal round. His vision was saved by protective eyewear (Tirado had protection too, but any safety gear will struggle to withstand a direct hit).On March 8, meanwhile, a trial will begin in another case: <a href="https://www.insider.com/derek-chauvin-set-to-begin-separate-trial-from-other-officers-march-2021">that of Derek Chauvin</a>, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with killing <keyword id="9295731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="george-floyd">George Floyd</keyword>."I'm going to be watching that with close attention," Tirado said. She has friends who will be covering it and any protests that take place outside. "My concern right now is, well, I hope we all collectively learned some lessons because what we don't need is for happened to me to ever happen again to any citizen," she said, "but particularly a journalist who is reporting out a story."Have a <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> tip? Email this reporter: <a href="mailto:cdavis@insider.com">cdavis@insider.com</a>

After being shot in the face while covering a protest, a freelance journalist and her attorney alleged a conspiracy. A judge just ruled to let the case move forward.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A lawsuit filed Wednesday seeks compensation for Linda Tirado, a <keyword id="9059" type="POSITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="journalist">journalist</keyword> who was blinded in her left eye after covering a <keyword id="6359715" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="protest">protest</keyword> in <keyword id="191558" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Minneapolis">Minneapolis</keyword> following the killing of <keyword id="9295731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="george-floyd">George Floyd</keyword>.</li><li>The suit names the city of Minneapolis and unnamed <keyword id="11098" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="police">police</keyword> officers, along with others, and accuses the police of firing a "non-lethal" projectile that struck her face and damaged her eye.</li><li>"There is some hope that I recover some vague light and shadow, but the idea of being able to restore my vision is a bit of a pipe dream," Tirado told Business Insider.</li><li>Tirado is represented pro bono by Tai-Heng Cheng, a partner at the high-powered corporate law firm Sidley Austin.</li><li>"Law firms have made commitments that Black lives matter, and now it's time for us to act," Cheng said in an interview.</li></ul>A journalist who was blinded in her left eye after being shot in the face with a "non-lethal" projectile is suing the city of Minneapolis, telling Insider that she hopes the litigation will lead to better standards for law enforcement and safer protests for members of the media and others exercising their right to free speech.Linda Tirado, a journalist who has written best-selling books and articles for The Guardian and The Daily Beast, was prepared for the worst when she drove from her home in Tennessee to Minnesota following the death of George Floyd. But she says her personal protective equipment — goggles around her eyes, credentials around her neck announcing her as "PRESS," and a professional-grade Nikon in hand — proved incapable of safeguarding her from the Minneapolis police."I was winding up a shot — it was police cars behind tear gas," Tirado said in an interview, recounting how she had just encountered protesters running from the direction of the Minneapolis Police Department's 3rd Precinct. The gas created a "kind of horrific purple-orange rainbow spectrum," she said. "I was lining up that establishing shot when I felt the impact on my face. My goggles came off, so I immediately got hit with tear gas."She also immediately started bleeding. "I just kind of closed my eyes and started yelling, 'I'm press, I'm press,'" she recalled.It was protesters, not the police, who offered her emergency medical care, she said. "They gave me a patch for the laceration, drove me to the hospital — I was in surgery within an hour of the injury," she said.In the hospital during the early-morning hours of May 30, Tirado learned she had become permanently blind in her left eye."There is some hope that I recover some vague light and shadow, but the idea of being able to restore my vision is a bit of a pipe dream," Tirado said. "I've had two surgeries already. They're telling me that I'll probably need two or three more."And that, she said, is just on the physical side of things: As the mother of two children, she's also concerned about her ability to make a living.She's also still not sure what hit her — just that it was a projectile such as a tear-gas canister or rubber bullet fired by local law enforcement. Nor can she say for sure whether she was intentionally fired upon — the police had earlier shot a "tracer" round at her backpack that left a streak of green identifying her as a target — or whether she was the victim of indiscriminate fire."I kind of go back and forth on which, morally, would be more satisfying," Tirado said. "Both of them are terrible options."<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Linda Tirado (@KillerMartinis) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1266618525600399361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>Tirado's lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court, names as defendants the city of Minneapolis, the unnamed police officers who fired on her, and, among others, Bob Kroll, the head of the local police union.A representative for the city of Minneapolis said it was "not commenting on the lawsuit at this time." The Minneapolis Police Department did not respond to an inquiry.In addition to damages — she says reading and writing are both difficult, cooking is near-impossible without depth perception, and photography is currently out of the question — Tirado is seeking a public declaration from the defendants that the use of excessive force at protests violates the US Constitution.Tai-Heng Cheng, Tirado's attorney, also hopes the litigation process itself will shed light on police actions and aid the cause of reform.<div type="image" title="minneapolis police" height="702" width="936" msid="76314755" hostid="261"></div>"Through discovery, we will find out if these officers were acting on orders against the journalists," he said, or whether they "had received instructions that basically allowed them to be indifferent towards well-being."Cheng is a partner at the high-powered corporate law firm Sidley Austin. This case is far different from his usual, paid work on international arbitration. But, outraged by the killing of Floyd and the treatment of those who protested in response, he decided to take on the case pro bono, viewing it as crucial to the defense of free speech and the ability of journalists to report on social movements.One monitor <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/journalists-demand-end-harassment-after-police-launch-over-100-attacks-2020-6">counted more than 100 attacks</a> on members of the media during the first four days of protests sparked by the Floyd killing. The day before Tirado was attacked, the Minnesota state police arrested a television crew from CNN — <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/us/minneapolis-cnn-crew-arrested/index.html">live, on the air</a>."It's crucial for the functioning of our democracy for <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> like this to get out, for Americans exercising their First Amendment right to be heard," Cheng said. It's also crucial, he argued, for those in corporate America to back up their asserted support for diversity and social justice with demonstrable actions."Law firms have made commitments that Black lives matter, and now it's time for us to act," he said. "Donating our time and expertise, pro bono, to help with legal claims is one way in which law firms can really step up."Have a news tip? Email this reporter: <a href="mailto:cdavis@insider.com">cdavis@insider.com</a>

A journalist sued the city of Minneapolis, saying she was blinded after being shot in the face by police during a George Floyd protest

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In the week since <keyword id="9295731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="george-floyd">George Floyd</keyword> died while pinned down by <keyword id="191558" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Minneapolis">Minneapolis</keyword> police officers, <keyword id="6354896" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="protests">protests</keyword> across the United States have intensified.</li><li>So, too, has the police response to these demonstrations that, in some places, have turned violent and included looting, vandalism, and arson.</li><li>Social media is filled with images of wounded protesters and journalists who have been struck by <keyword id="722798" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rubber-bullets">rubber bullets</keyword> and tear gas canisters in the eyes and face. Some have even lost their sight.</li><li>Experts policing, however, tell Insider that rubber bullets are considered "less lethal" weapons — and many police departments have considered them a "legitimate tool" for decades.</li></ul>Gory images have flooded social media in the week since the police killing of George Floyd: people's eyes swollen shut, blood dripping from deep gashes on their bodies, and bruised and mottled skin. The 46-year-old Floyd died on May 25 <a href="https://www.insider.com/george-floyd-autopsy-cause-death-asphyxia-neck-back-compression-ben-crump-2020-6">after being pinned under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer</a> for eight minutes and 46 seconds. The way he was treated by four policemen in the roughly 90 minutes between his arrest and death has enraged protesters across the United States. Thousands have protested peacefully, but thousands more have channeled their anger at men and women in blue. And the police haven't held back. They've wielded batons, hit people with tear gas and pepper spray, hurled flash bangs, shoved and punched protesters, driven squad cars into demonstrators, and <a href="https://www.insider.com/why-rubber-bullets-dangerous-what-to-do-if-hit-2020-6">fired rubber bullets</a> to contain crowds. Journalists have been deployed to various demonstrations around the country, and many have been wounded by the police.<div type="image" title="Minneapolis photo journalist george floyd protests rubber bullets" height="1667" width="2500" msid="76162191" hostid="261"></div>A freelance photographer, Linda Tirado was shot in the left eye while covering protests in Minneapolis. "I was aiming my next shot, put my camera down for a second, and then my face exploded," she told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/30/us/minneapolis-protests-press.html">The New York Times</a>. "I immediately felt blood and was screaming, 'I'm press! I'm press!'"Tirado, who was helped by protesters, believes she was hit by a rubber bullet that came from police officers. John Elder, a police spokesman, told the Times that it's been decades since the department used rubber bullets — <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/5/31/21276013/police-targeted-journalists-covering-george-floyd-protests">even though numerous videos and photos show the cops using them</a>.Tirado has since shared numerous updates on <a href="https://twitter.com/KillerMartinis">Twitter</a>, where she described losing sight in her left eye and said doctors told her it's not likely to recover.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Linda Tirado (@KillerMartinis) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1266618525600399361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote><blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Linda Tirado (@KillerMartinis) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1266786725185142784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote><blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Linda Tirado (@KillerMartinis) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1267445807642406917?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote><a href="https://www.insider.com/cnn-omar-jimenez-arrested-live-air-george-floyd-protest-minneapolis2020-5">CNN reporter Oscar Jimenez</a>, who was detained while doing a live shot in Minneapolis — after politely offering to move to where state troopers preferred to station him and his crew — <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/30/us/minneapolis-protests-press.html">told the Times</a> that his cameraman and producer were pelted by rubber bullets on Saturday.<a href="https://laist.com/2020/05/31/reporters_injured_protests_police.php">A KPCC reporter, Adolfo Guzman-Lopez</a>, wrote on Twitter that he was covering anti-police <keyword id="6355987" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Violence">violence</keyword> protests in Long Beach, California. An officer saw him interviewing a demonstrator and then "aimed and shot me in the throat," he wrote, adding later that the bloody wound was painful.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Adolfo Guzman-Lopez (@AGuzmanLopez) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1267276915737366528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>Balin Brake, a protester, was also photographed with blood pouring from his right eye. He later said on Twitter that he was blinded after a policeman in Fort Wayne, Indiana, "unnecessarily and improperly fired a tear gas canister at my head hitting my eye."He added that he may end up needing additional surgeries weeks to mend broken facial bones.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—lens (@notbalin) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1267496155769864195?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>On Monday, reality TV star Kim Kardashian West asked her 65 million-plus Twitter followers to help find a high schooler in Minneapolis who was apparently struck by a rubber bullet in the middle of her forehead, gouging out a chunk of skin and sending rivulets of blood down her face. West said she wanted to help pay for the victim's medical bills.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1267540893084442624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>The activist Shaun King in a series of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CA6Trwzn8hV/">Instagram posts</a> also highlighted how 16-year-old Brad Levi Ayala was struck in the head with a rubber bullet fired by an Austin Police Department sniper.<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CA6TCIGnuWm/">A video</a> King posted shows Ayala standing one minute and crumpled on the ground the next."It caused a traumatic brain injury and he had to have emergency surgery," King wrote. "He was unarmed. ⁣Non-violent. ⁣He's a kid. ⁣He did NOTHING."<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px); data.width~540;"><div style="padding:8px;"><div style="background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:62.4537037037% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"><div style="background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CA6UuhUJWp7" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank"></a> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by Shaun King (@shaunking)<time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2020-06-01T23:42:32+00:00">Jun 1, 2020 at 4:42pm PDT</time></div></blockquote><h2>Not every country allows cops to use rubber bullets</h2>A <a href="https://www.change.org/p/united-nations-ban-the-use-of-inhumane-rubber-bullets?recruiter=918640821&amp;utm_source=share_petition&amp;utm_medium=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_abi&amp;recruited_by_id=2ba74eb0-f594-11e8-b5e6-afb5920989b15e6-afb5920989b1">Change.org petition</a> to ban "inhumane rubber bullets" has amassed over 383,000 signatures and counting, as of Tuesday.Such bullets are dangerous, the petition says, adding, "They may cause bone fractures, injuries to internal organs, or even death. It's been proven that rubber and plastic bullets are too dangerous for crowd control and have even been banned" in other parts of the world.Chile is one country that has tamped down on the use of rubber bullets.Earlier this year, the Latin American nation was wracked by months-long anti-government protests, which were sparked by increased metro fees, but then spread to include issues like income inequality and exorbitant costs of living. Law enforcement officials used pellets to quell the disquiet and pumped tear gas canisters at people's faces, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/02/02/801995403/eye-patches-are-a-badge-of-honor-as-injured-chileans-keep-protesting">NPR reported</a>.Chile's Institute of Human Rights said more than 400 people have suffered eye injuries and some have been rendered completely blind, said NPR.Photographs of bandaged eyes became common in late 2019, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/19/world/americas/chile-protests-eye-injuries.html">according to The New York Times</a>, and served to unite and rouse protesters.<div type="image" title="chile eye injuries protesters rubber bullets police " height="1667" width="2500" msid="76162194" hostid="261"></div>However, a study by the Universidad de Chile found that the pellets were constructed of only 20% rubber. The rest was silica, lead, and barium sulfate, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-protests/chiles-police-chief-suspends-use-of-rubber-bullets-idUSKBN1XU09J">Reuters reported</a>, prompting Chile's police chief to suspend the use of the projectiles.It would be "prudent" to use rubber bullets and firearms "as an extreme measure and exclusively for self-defense, when there is imminent danger of death," Director General Mario Rozas said, per Reuters.<h2>A 'less lethal' weapon</h2>There is no national standard for whether it's OK for police officers to use rubber bullets. Maria Haberfeld, a professor of police science at John Jay College, told Insider that the bullets are considered "less lethal" weapons at many police departments and used as an alternative to "more extreme measures," including Tasers, ammunition, and chemical sprays, she said.Since some police departments consider rubber bullets a "legitimate tool," their use doesn't count as "excessive force," Haberfeld said — even though they can blind people. But Haberfeld said that officers could still get in trouble if they used those measures on someone who was complied with the arresting officer's orders and ceased to resist arrest.Rubber bullets are generally used for crowd control, according to Eugene A. Paoline III, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Central Florida.They help policemen "disperse people without having to be in close proximity," he said. However, "they are not to be used in lethal encounters" and should be aimed below people's heads.<div type="image" title="rubber bullets miami police george floyd back lives matter protests" height="1818" width="2500" msid="76162196" hostid="261"></div>"Rubber bullets would not be used on a knife — or gun — wielding suspect to gain compliance," Paoline said. "At the same time, if a rubber bullet is administered to a person's head, it could cause death, which would then change the definition of the encounter from less lethal to lethal."That said, every police department has a policy that determines whether the use of rubber bullets is considered excessive force and lays out when and how the weapon's use is permissible, Paoline said.Jennifer Cobbina, a professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University, told Insider that protest policing in the 1960s and 1970s was "based on the philosophy of escalated force in which increasing violence on the part of protesters was met with increasing force from police. This approach was primarily aggressive and confrontational in nature.""We see protest police resorting to this strategy" in the ongoing George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests, she said, even though such tactics "exacerbate tension between police and protesters."<div type="image" title="rubber bullets george floyd black lives matter protests" height="1669" width="2225" msid="76162199" hostid="261"></div>Cobbina suggested police adopt the negotiated management approach that was favored from the mid-1970s until the 1990s. This response protects the right to free speech, tolerates some disruption, de-escalates tension, and avoids high levels of police force unless it's absolutely necessary.This would allow demonstrators and police departments to "decrease disruptiveness from protesters and limit the need for police violence," she said.Asked if the police can help bring the burgeoning social unrest under control by responding differently or adopting certain actions, Haberfeld said no.Politicians and community organizers need to respond to the civil disobedience, she said, because it is "larger than the police."After all, Haberfeld added, "Police are the arm of the local government and not a standalone body."<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/multiple-people-shot-dead-kentucky-iowa-nebraska-indiana-blm-protests-2020-6">At least 7 people have been shot and killed in this weekend's anti-police violence protests in the wake of George Floyd's death</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/trump-aides-unifying-tv-speech-give-up-president-protests-2020-6">Trump's aides tried to get him to give a unifying TV address, but gave up because he was unwilling and they had no new policies to suggest</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/bogdan-vechirko-identified-as-man-who-drove-through-minneapolis-protesters-2020-6">The truck driver who sped through a crowd of George Floyd protesters has been named and booked on suspicion of assault</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/washington-dc-protests-fires-white-house-photos-videos-updates-2020-6">Lights at the White House go dark as protests turn violent in Washington</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/george-floyd-struggled-with-minneapolis-police-officers-backseat-new-video-2020-5">New video appears to show George Floyd struggling in the backseat of a police cruiser with three Minneapolis officers</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/global-george-floyd-black-lives-matter-protests-photos-2020-5">Thousands across the UK, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and Canada condemn racism and demand justice at global George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/george-floyd-nba-icon-dennis-rodman-pleads-protestors-to-stop-looting-2020-6">Dennis Rodman has pleaded with people protesting George Floyd's death to stop looting: 'We're not f—ing animals'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/police-arrest-and-brutalize-journalists-covering-george-floyd-protests-2020-5">Across America, police violently arrested and shot less-lethal rounds at journalists covering George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/national-guard-troops-states-protest-response-2020-5">The National Guard says its activated 5,000 troops to respond to unrest in 15 states and DC with thousands more ready to go</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/twitter-changed-profile-black-lives-matter-2020-5">Twitter changed its profile to honour Black Lives Matter amid George Floyd protests</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/legal-experts-explain-challenges-in-derek-chauvin-charges-prosecution-2020-5">The Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyd's neck has been arrested. Experts say prosecutors have a long road ahead.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/chauvins-career-raises-questions-about-the-citys-police-review-board-2020-5">Derek Chauvin had 16 complaints made against him that were closed with 'no discipline.' A former member of the police review board says that's proof of a broken system.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/george-floyd-video-activists-are-begging-people-stop-posting-2020-5">People keep sharing the video of George Floyd. Some activists and mental health professionals are calling it 'pain porn' and begging them to stop.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/minneapolis-police-george-floyd-maneuver-not-allowed-in-other-cities-2020-5">Most Minnesota law enforcement agencies ban the neck-pinning maneuver used against George Floyd – but it's still allowed in Minneapolis</a></li></ul>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/black-lives-matter-protesters-journalists-hurt-disabled-police-rubber-bullets-2020-6">Insider</a>

'My face exploded': Police firing rubber bullets have wounded and permanently disabled protesters and journalists

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="104489" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Amnesty-International">Amnesty International</keyword> documented 125 separate cases of <keyword id="1238121" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="excessive-force">excessive force</keyword> by US security forces between May 26 and June 5.</li><li>"The unnecessary and sometimes excessive use of force by police against protesters exhibits the very systemic racism and impunity they had taken to the streets to protest," Ernest Coverson, Amnesty International's end gun violence campaign manager, said in a statement.</li><li>The 68-page report, based on interviews with more than 50 people who participated in <keyword id="2771111" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="black-lives-matter">Black Lives Matter</keyword> <keyword id="6354896" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="protests">protests</keyword>, suggests that US police often deployed chemical irritants and rubber bullets indiscriminately, and as a first resort. </li></ul>Police forces in the US deployed excessive force against anti-racist protesters on no fewer than 125 separate occasions in the 10 days following the death of George Floyd, after officers knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, according to a new report from Amnesty International. Abuses ranged from the unnecessary and unlawful use of <keyword id="384876" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="tear-gas">tear gas</keyword> and pepper spray to beatings and the indiscriminate firing of "less lethal" projectiles. the report says."The unnecessary and sometimes excessive use of force by police against protesters exhibits the very systemic racism and impunity they had taken to the streets to protest," Ernest Coverson, Amnesty International's end gun violence campaign manager, said in a statement.The 68-page report, based on interviews with more than 50 people who participated in Black Lives Matter protests, suggespolice often deployed chemical irritants and rubber bullets indiscriminately, and as a first resort. Those who have attempted to document the police response to protests have not been spared. Linda Tirado, a freelance journalist, lost an eye to a "less lethal" round while covering the civil unrest in <keyword id="191558" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Minneapolis">Minneapolis</keyword>, Minnesota, as she discussed in <a href="https://www.insider.com/journalist-blinded-during-george-floyd-protests-files-lawsuit-against-minneapolis-2020-6">an interview with Business Insider</a>. "They 100% knew we were journalists," Tirado told Amnesty International.Another journalist, Victor Blue, was repeatedly targeted "with tear gas, pepper spray, and kinetic impact projectiles" while covering the protests, the report notes."That's one thing I think everyone would agree on," Blue told Amnesty, "in Minneapolis, if you had a camera on, they went for you."And not just in Minneapolis. In Portland, Oregon, federal agents deployed by the Trump administration have likewise injured a member of the press. Trip Jennings, a photojournalist who's worked for PBS and National Geographic, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/portland-journalist-recounts-being-shot-in-the-face-by-police-2020-7">told Business Insider</a> that security forces fired a round at his face after flooding the streets with tear gas.That deployment, in particular, troubles human rights advocates."President Trump's actions represent a slippery slope toward authoritarianism and must immediately stop," Amnesty researcher Justin Mazzola said in a statement. But reform is needed not just at the federal level, the report asserts, noting that only three states — California, Washington, and Missouri — have passed legislation limiting police use of lethal force."We need the country's approach to the policing of protests to be changed from the ground up," Mazzola said.In particular, Amnesty says state legislatures should ensure that lethal force is only to be deployed when "necessary and proportionate to protect against an imminent threat of death or serious injury." That's the bare minimum, the group states, to comply with international law.As it stands, more than 1,000 people are killed by US police each year. The impact is disproportionate: Black people make up 13.2% of the population but just under a quarter of the dead.Have a <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> tip? Email this reporter: <a href="mailto:cdavis@insider.com">cdavis@insider.com</a>

US police used excessive force at least 125 times in the 10 days after the police killing of George Floyd, according to a new report

<div type="image" title="Egypt US comparison" height="750" width="1500" msid="76320195" hostid="261"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>The <keyword id="660972" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Arab-Spring">Arab Spring</keyword> in 2011 and the <keyword id="9295731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="george-floyd">George Floyd</keyword> protests in the US are two of the largest popular movements in the last decade. </li><li>Business Insider asked journalists, academics and activists who lived the Egyptian revolution and are watching the US protests for comment on the two.</li><li>Despite very different backdrops and causes, the protests have in common police brutality, huge numbers of protesters, and the influence of authoritarianism.</li></ul>In both cases, the death of a brutalized man appalled and mobilized whole nations.The systemic injustices that killed Mohamed Bouazizi — the Tunisian fruitseller who burned himself to death, sparking protests across the Middle East — and those that killed George Floyd in Minneapolis are not the same.But the Floyd protests, now in<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/june-7-protests-george-floyd-black-lives-matter-photos-2020-6?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T"> their third week</a> across the US, have caught the imagination and stirred the memories of people who lived through the Arab Spring. In 2011, I lived and worked in the center of Cairo, about five minutes from Tahrir Square. When Egypt's uprising sparked on January 25, the city became the focal point for the entire Middle East's uprising against its dictators. Many of my friends became involved, and I tried my best to ally with them.Now, nearly 10 years after Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stood down, I asked academics, activists and journalists who saw the protests in Cairo what parallels they are drawing with the US.Some of my sources were understandably cautious. Not only is it difficult to compare the democratic struggles of an entire region's people with specifically racial inequality in the US, the two places have very different histories and structures. An official government estimate says 846 Egyptians died in the first weeks of their uprising. Many more died later.But the scale, reach and imagery of both events are prompting immediate comparisons. Egyptian graffiti artist and graphic novelist Mohamed Fahmy — known professionally as Ganzeer — has been exiled in the US since 2014 for his government-critical art and activism in Egypt.He has been watching events unfold closely from his base in Houston, Texas. "It feels 100% familiar," he said. <h2>US militarized response echoes the Egyptian clampdown</h2><div type="image" title="lincoln memorial national guard troops trump george floyd protests" height="1000" width="2000" msid="76320196" hostid="261"></div>"Some of the actual visual set pieces of these protests in America have been eerily reminiscent of some of the big protest set pieces in Egypt," said Jack Shenker, former Egypt correspondent for The GuardianShenker is also author of "The Egyptians," a book about the revolution. He mentioned the Maspero massacre in October 2011, when armed vehicles plowed into peaceful protesters in a district of Cairo — a scene which echoed on May 31, 2020, when <a href="https://www.insider.com/nypd-cruisers-ram-down-protesters-video-2020-5">an NYPD vehicle appeared to drive right into protesters</a> in Brooklyn, New York.Egypt's military is far more deeply embedded in political and public life than in the US. Several Egyptian presidents have come from the army, which itself has control over many non-military industries.Not only that, a paramilitary guard that answers to the Ministry of Interior, the Central Security Forces, kept control over a state-of-emergency law imposed over 31 years. President Trump has mobilized at least 17,000 National Guard troops, but without the same sweeping powers as in Egypt. He <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-didnt-expect-trump-deploy-more-troops-after-esper-call-2020-6?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">has been at odds with the Pentagon</a> over the question of sending more. <h2>Tear gas, rubber bullets and brutal policing </h2>Ganzeer was 28 when the revolution broke out on January 25, 2011, in Egypt, and like many others he was relatively new to protest. He said he noticed a similar spirit of cooperation in the US.In Tahrir Square, protesters organized "take what you need" shops, medical stations, and even a media center. There have been many reports of similar in the US. It does not make it any easier to deal with harsh policing, however. "I remember the first time we saw a tear gas canister being shot at us on January 25," said Ganzeer. "No-one knew what it was, right," he said, miming a person watching the arc of a teargas canister soaring through the air. "There was a pause where like everyone's like: 'Oh, what is that?' And then it lands and then it's letting out the gas, and everyone starts panicking."Beyond the controversial use of tear gas, which is outlawed in war, the misuse of crowd control ballistics is another common issue.On May 30, freelance photographer Linda Tirado <a href="https://www.insider.com/black-lives-matter-protesters-journalists-hurt-disabled-police-rubber-bullets-2020-6">lost her left eye</a> covering the Minneapolis protests after she was shot with a rubber bullet by police officers. Although police denied these were in use, there were multiple reports of similar injuries.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Linda Tirado (@KillerMartinis) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1266618525600399361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>It is unclear if Tirado's eye was targeted. But the injury had immediate echoes of protesters who were deliberately blinded during the battle of Mohamed Mahmoud Street — a six-day wave of running skirmishes in Downtown Cairo, November 2011.Some Egyptian police called themselves "eye hunters,", according to Dr Sherene Seikaly, a historian at University of California Santa Barbara who was based in Cairo at the time.<h2>Attacks on the press</h2>When a Black <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftLzQefpBvM">CNN reporter was arrested</a> midway through a to-camera report in downtown Minneapolis on May 29, the studio anchor narrated: "That is an American television reporter, Omar Jimenez, being led away by police officers."There was a very slight emphasis on "American."The US retains a strong ranking on the <a href="https://rsf.org/en/ranking">Reporters Without Borders press freedom index</a>, unlike most Middle Eastern countries. Nonetheless, the US Press Freedom Tracker has verified <a href="https://pressfreedomtracker.us/george-floyd-protests/">more than 300 violations</a> since the protests broke out. "Trump has spoken now for almost three years about journalism as the enemy of the people," said Seikaly, the historian.Shenker, the former Guardian reporter and a British man, knows what it is like to see those press privileges disappear. On January 26, 2011 — the second day of the Egyptian revolution — he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2011/jun/10/guardian190-arab-spring-egypt-2011">was arrested</a> by Egyptian police who, as he put it, "beat the crap out of me."Just as with CNN's Jimenez, he said, it was a process of "realizing that the protections and privileges it seemed you could count on had melted away."<h2>A backdrop of creeping authoritarianism</h2><div type="image" title="Trump Orb" height="912" width="1216" msid="76320197" hostid="261"></div>Dr Hesham Sallam, a researcher at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, described Trump to me as "an honorary member of the club of Arab autocrats.""We're talking about a leader who publicly scolds members of the press, rejects science, and incites hatred against minorities and his opponents more generally," he added.For Sallam, this was established long before Trump dubbed himself the "president of law and order" at a press conference on June 1, as he called for greater military intervention on the George Floyd protests, with roots in his 2016 campaign.Mubarak offered a similar vision to Egyptians on February 10, 2011, the day before he was ousted. He made a broadcast designed to appeal to an assumed silent majority of non-protesting Egyptians with vested interests."That fear-mongering strategy ... which happens to be common among autocrats in the Arab region — has been very much a hallmark of the Trump presidency during and before the current crisis," Sallam said.<h2>Exhausting and 'dizzying' lessons for protesters</h2>Shenker described watching the US protests unfold as "a very powerful and disturbing sensation."There is a very familiar sense from his experience covering protests in Cairo. He framed it as: "How it feels when the ground tilts, and power seems to slide down from behind darkened windows, and lines of riot shields, and tumbles into something that feels more collective.""It's dizzying," he added. Seikaly, the historian, said there is now a sense of "PTSD" around the Egyptian protests — not just physical trauma, but emotional. "The thing that was so incredible about the Egyptian revolution was that it gave us the sense of political hope," said Seikaly. "And that was something that most of us had never experienced."I think it's traumatic in this moment because we want to believe again, that systematic change is possible. And we're afraid to."Ganzeer, the graphic novelist, said the US protests raised the possibility that, even though the Egyptian uprising didn't result in meaningful change, "maybe this experience we've been through wasn't for nothing. Maybe it actually serves a purpose that is a bit more beyond ourselves."He said: "Now, I'm just taken to a place where I feel ..."I waited a long time. He didn't finish the sentence.

The US response to the George Floyd protests feels uncannily familiar to people who lived through the start of the Arab Spring

<ul class="summary-list"><li>US police launched over 100 attacks on credential members of the press over the weekend, according to a count by the investigative <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> organization Bellingcat.</li><li>In a June 1 open letter, leading press organizations pleaded with law enforcement to "halt the deliberate and devastating targeting of journalists in the field."</li><li>Aaron Miguel Cantú, a freelance journalist in Los Angeles who was arrested over the weekend, told Business Insider that reporters are now learning that "police have grown so powerful that there is nobody left to meaningfully hold them accountable for their actions."</li></ul>In Minneapolis, local law enforcement took aim at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/police-arrest-and-brutalize-journalists-covering-george-floyd-protests-2020-5">Linda Tirado</a>, a photojournalist, and shot her eye out as she tried to cover protests over the police killing of George Floyd; they later subjected a black journalist from CNN to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-accuses-minneapolis-police-of-lying-about-its-arrest-of-a-black-cnn-reporter-2020-5">wrongful arrest</a>. In Louisville, TV reporter Kaitlin Rust and her crew were targeted by local cops who peppered them with non-lethal bullets during a live broadcast.In just four days, according to a count by the investigative news outlet Bellingcat, US police attacked journalists <a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/06/well-try-to-help-you-follow-the-police-attacks-on-journalists-across-the-country/">over a hundred times.</a>The police violence against a free press spurred a response Monday from leading <keyword id="58267" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Journalism">journalism</keyword> organizations, and a reminder for law enforcement: "These cities belong to all of us.""You must persuade your colleagues, commanders and chiefs, and the mayors and governors who direct them, to halt the deliberate and devastating targeting of journalists in the field," reads a June 1 open letter to police endorsed by groups such as the Society of Professional Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the National Press Club.<div type="image" title="2020 05 31T074119Z_2_LYNXMPEG4U075_RTROPTP_3_MINNEAPOLIS POLICE PROTEST UPDATE.JPG" height="400" width="800" msid="76146290" hostid="261"></div>"Over the past 72 hours police have opened fire with rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper spray, pepper balls and have used nightsticks and shields to attack the working press as never before in this nation," the letter states. "When you silence the press with rubber bullets, you silence the voice of the public. Do not abandon our Constitution and its First Amendment."Aaron Miguel Cantú, a freelance journalist in Los Angeles who was briefly detained while covering protests on Saturday, told Business Insider that while this weekend's incidents may be alarming, what's new is the attention they are receiving."Journalists across the field are now learning firsthand what may having been saying for the last decade: American police have grown so powerful that there is nobody left to meaningfully hold them accountable for their actions, particularly at large street protests," Cantú said. In 2017, he was arrested and charged with "conspiracy to riot" while covering protests during President Donald Trump's inauguration; the charges were <a href="https://www.sfreporter.com/news/2018/07/06/journalists-charges-dropped/">ultimately dismissed</a> after a prolonged legal battle.With the president declaring reporters "enemies of the people," harassment of the press is spreading to new quarters.Freelance journalists have been targeted with "violence and arrest by police for years," Cantú noted, "and now this kind of targeting increasingly includes journalists by corporate <keyword id="6354777" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Media">media</keyword> outlets."Have a news tip? Email this reporter: <a href="mailto:cdavis@insider.com">cdavis@insider.com</a> Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/journalists-demand-end-harassment-after-police-launch-over-100-attacks-2020-6">Business Insider</a>

Journalists demand end to harassment after US police launch over 100 attacks on the press this past weekend

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The <keyword id="6846516" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Minneapolis-Police-Department">Minneapolis Police Department</keyword> is facing consequences for the role played by four former officers in the death of <keyword id="9295731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="george-floyd">George Floyd</keyword> on May 25.</li><li>On Tuesday, the state of Minnesota launched a civil rights investigation into the department's policies, procedures, and practices.</li><li>Public institutions are cutting ties: <keyword id="191558" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Minneapolis">Minneapolis</keyword> Public Schools, the University of Minnesota, and the city's parks board have ended their contracts with police.</li><li>The department has also been sued for violating the constitutional rights of journalists by arresting them and inflicting permanent injuries by firing rubber bullets at their faces. </li></ul>George Floyd's death on May 25 has caused a reckoning on race and police brutality not just in the United States but across the globe. And the fallout in Minneapolis, where the police killing occurred, has been swift.Many of the city's other institutions have distanced themselves from the police department, including the city's school board, the parks department, and the University of Minnesota.On Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights announced a civil rights probe into the Minneapolis Police Department's policies, procedures, and practices going back 10 years. The goal is to investigate whether the department has demonstrated systemic discrimination against people of color.Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero said she hopes to reach an agreement with the city for short-term changes that would pave the way for long-term solutions.Eventually, she said, a consent decree could be reached and enforced by courts with injunctions and fines, <a href="https://apnews.com/c35e8d89079dcb7cf7021ebdb71b04be">according to the Associated Press</a>. "This is not a report. This is something that will result in court action and require change," Lucero promised, <a href="https://www.startribune.com/minn-officials-push-for-systems-change-at-minneapolis-police-dept/570958652/?refresh=true">the Star Tribune reported</a>.<div type="image" title="roxie washington george floyd minneapolis " height="1667" width="2500" msid="76186299" hostid="261"></div>The 12-member Minneapolis City Council threw its support behind the investigation, the Associated Press reported."For years in Minneapolis, police chiefs and elected officials committed to change have been thwarted by police union protections and laws that severely limit accountability among police departments," <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MayorFrey/posts/635512963702697">Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement on Facebook</a>. "I welcome today's announcement because breaking through those persistent barriers, shifting the <keyword id="24504" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="culture">culture</keyword> of policing, and addressing systemic racism will require all of us working hand-in-hand."<h2>The city's public schools and parks department are distancing themselves</h2>The Minneapolis Public Schools also decided on Tuesday to end its $1.1 contract with the police department. City police act as school resource officers, officials said.Hundreds of people descended on the district building before the vote — among them Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who represents Minnesota's 5th congressional district. Siad Ali, the board's director, said at the meeting that the department doesn't deserve the school board's support, <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mollyhensleyclancy/minneapolis-schools-police-george-floyd-protests">according to BuzzFeed News</a>."This vote is about justice. It's about time we end this contract with the Minneapolis police. They do not meet our values, and therefore, we will have no business with this organization," she said.The University of Minnesota also severed its ties with the Minneapolis Police Department two days after Floyd died, with President Joan Gabel saying it will no longer provide security for football games, ceremonies, and other events.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Will Stancil (@whstancil) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1265786445853151234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2020</a></blockquote>On Wednesday, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board joined the list of groups that have distanced themselves from Minneapolis police, going so far as to change park police uniforms to distinguish them from city officers' uniforms, <a href="https://www.startribune.com/park-board-moves-to-cut-ties-with-mpls-cops/570982312/">according to the Star Tribune</a>."Recent actions by the Minneapolis Police Department in the alleged murder of George Floyd while in police custody have severely undermined community trust in, and sense of safety around, Minneapolis Police," a board resolution reads. "This severe undermining of trust and safety by Minneapolis Police does not support the mission of the MPRB and has no place in our parks."Earlier in the day, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/goyette-v-city-minneapolis">the Minneapolis Police Department was also slapped with a class-action lawsuit</a>, filed by two Minneapolis law firms and the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota.The lawsuit accuses police officers of violating journalists' constitutional rights by arresting them, spraying them with pepper spray, and shooting rubber bullets at them. <a href="https://www.insider.com/black-lives-matter-protesters-journalists-hurt-disabled-police-rubber-bullets-2020-6">A freelance photojournalist lost the use of her left eye after such an attack</a>.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Linda Tirado (@KillerMartinis) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1266618525600399361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote><blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Linda Tirado (@KillerMartinis) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1266786161143537669?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>"The press is under assault in our City," the lawsuit says. "This pattern and practice of conduct by law enforcement tramples on the Constitution. It violates the sacrosanct right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press that form the linchpin of a free society. "<h2>All four officers involved in Floyd's death have been charged</h2><keyword id="9301885" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="derek-chauvin">Derek Chauvin</keyword>, <a href="https://www.insider.com/george-floyd-autopsy-cause-death-asphyxia-neck-back-compression-ben-crump-2020-6">the arresting officer who pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds</a>, and the three other policemen — Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J. Alexander Kueng — were fired from the Minneapolis Police Department following Floyd's death.Chauvin was taken into custody on May 29 and slapped with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges. But attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci said that's not enough. Their demands were answered on Wednesday when <a href="https://www.insider.com/four-minneapolis-police-officers-criminal-charges-george-floyd-death-2020-6">Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison charged Chauvin with second-degree murder</a> as well. Lane, Thou, and Kueng were also charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Bail is set at $1 million for all the defendants, court documents show.<a href="https://www.insider.com/ben-crump-civil-rights-cases-ahmaud-arbery-george-floyd-2020-6">Crump</a> issued a statement on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bencrumplaw/posts/630818730861814">Facebook</a>, calling it a "bittersweet moment.""We are deeply gratified that Attorney General Keith Ellison took decisive action in this case, arresting and charging all the officers involved in George Floyd's death and upgrading the charge against Derek Chauvin to felony second-degree murder," he wrote.He also expressed gratitude that Ellison took this step before Floyd's upcoming funeral services."This is a significant step forward on the road to justice, and we are gratified that this important action was brought before George Floyd's body was laid to rest," Crump said. "That is a source of peace for George's family in this painful time."The Floyd family will have three memorials for George Floyd. The first will be on June 4 in Minneapolis; the second — a public viewing and a memorial on June 6 — in Raeford, North Carolina; and the third — a public viewing on June 8 and a memorial on June 9 — in Houston, Texas. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fbencrumplaw%2Fposts%2F630086050935082&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=552&amp;height=735&amp;appId" width="552" height="735" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe>The lawyer told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/02/joe-biden-will-attend-george-floyd-funeral-lawyer-says.html">CNBC</a> that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will be at the funeral in Texas. Plans for the former vice president to attend the service are being discussed, but have not yet been finalized, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/politics/george-floyd-funeral-joe-biden/index.html">a person familiar with the matter told CNN</a>.Meanwhile, Roxie Washington, the mother of George Floyd's six-year-old daughter Gianna Floyd, broke down at a <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> conference in Minneapolis on Tuesday at which she sought justice for the father of her child, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/02/george-floyds-child-mother-roxie-washington-makes-public-comment/3128725001/">USA Today reported</a>."He'll never see her grow up, graduate. He will never walk her down the aisle. If there's a problem she's had and needs her dad, she does not have that anymore," Washington said. <ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/four-minneapolis-police-officers-criminal-charges-george-floyd-death-2020-6">Derek Chauvin charged with second-degree murder in George Floyd's killing, 3 other ex-cops involved charged with assisting him</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/richmond-virginia-police-officer-caught-on-camera-spitting-detained-protester-2020-6">'We got that on camera, a--hole': A video appears to show a Richmond police officer spitting 3 times on a detained protester</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/protesters-ride-horses-black-lives-matter-protest-lil-nas-x-2020-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Some Black Lives Matter protesters have been riding horses to protests. Lil Nas X gave one of them props on Twitter.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/george-floyd-seattle-protesters-block-gas-with-umbrellas-mirror-tactics-hong-kong-2020-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Seattle protesters are using umbrellas to block pepper spray and tear gas, mirroring tactics used by the Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrations</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doj-appoints-dea-surveillance-demonstrators-george-floyd-protests-report-2020-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Justice Department reportedly granted DEA temporary power to conduct 'covert surveillance' on demonstrators at the George Floyd protests</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/black-lives-matter-protesters-journalists-hurt-disabled-police-rubber-bullets-2020-6">'My face exploded': Police firing rubber bullets have wounded and permanently disabled protesters and journalists chronicling history</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/global-george-floyd-black-lives-matter-protests-photos-2020-5">Thousands across the UK, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and Canada condemn racism and demand justice at global Black Lives Matter protests</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/george-floyd-protests-police-violence-reform-change-2020-6">The George Floyd demonstrations have led to a cycle of violence between cops and protesters. Experts say only a shift in policing itself can end it.</a></li></ul>

Minneapolis's schools and city agencies are cutting ties with the police department as it stares down a civil rights probe into systemic discrimination

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Trip Jennings, a videographer who has worked with PBS and National Geographic, was shot by law enforcement with a less-lethal round while covering a <keyword id="2771111" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="black-lives-matter">Black Lives Matter</keyword> protest in <keyword id="92788" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Portland">Portland</keyword>, Oregon.</li><li>Speaking to Business Insider, Jennings recounted the moment that <keyword id="733196" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Federal-agents">federal agents</keyword> began firing <keyword id="384876" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="tear-gas">tear gas</keyword> and pelting protesters with <keyword id="722798" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rubber-bullets">rubber bullets</keyword>.</li><li>"I had a helmet on. I had a flak jacket on. As soon as I exposed something that was vulnerable, which was my face, they shot me," Jennings said.</li><li>Jennings was rushed to the hospital by volunteer medics. He said, a day later, that the hemorrhaging in his eye is even worse.</li><li>"I'm hoping there's no permanent damage," he said.</li></ul>Trip Jennings doesn't know why law enforcement agents Portland shot him in the head, nor if there will be lasting damage to the eye in which he was struck with a less-lethal round.But the videographer for PBS and National Geographic fully understands that if this can happen to him — a 6'2" white guy with a fancy camera around his neck; a veteran journalist complying with a police order to disperse — then what about those without that privilege?"It's a rare moment where my white privilege doesn't fully protect me," Jennings said in an interview with Business Insider on Monday, hours after checking out of the hospital where he was treated for a hemorrhaging eye."I know in almost any situation that I interact with the cops, I might get in trouble if I've been speeding but I'm not going to die," he said. "This is one of the few moments in my life, in the United States, where I wasn't sure."A veteran journalist who has covered protests around the world, Jennings was a block and a half from the <keyword id="9656784" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="portland-federal-building">Portland Federal Building</keyword> in Oregon's largest city, the scene of daily clashes between protesters and a growing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/portland-senator-wyden-says-trump-will-deploy-federal-agents-elsewhere-2020-7">assortment of US law enforcement</a> deployed by President Donald Trump, when around midnight he heard a muffled order shouted through a loudspeaker. He doesn't know what caused the protest to be declared an illegal riot, but he is clear about what happened next."It was accompanied by a lot of tear gas and a lot of impact munitions," he recounted. "I hunkered down behind some of the activists' shields and shot some photos. And then there was just too much tear gas to stay."Hundreds of people then took flight, including Jennings, fleeing the cloud of burning chemical agents."It was like a scene from a movie," Jennings said. "This giant cloud of tear gas began to part and move in the wind and expose this line of law enforcement in camouflage and black armor, marching up the street.""All the sudden there was just a barrage of impact munitions all around me," he recalled, referring to less-lethal rounds, such as rubber bullets and beanbags, that are intended to inflict damage short of mortality. He remembers one protester's shield being repeatedly slammed by what he believed to be pepper-spray projectiles.When the shooting stopped, "I figured that was a good time for me to leave," Jennings said.It wasn't. Minutes later, his back to the line of police, away from any crowd, camera in hand, Jennings stopped by a tree, and turned around to check the distance now between him and law enforcement."I had a helmet on. I had a flak jacket on," Jennings said. "As soon as I exposed something that was vulnerable, which was my face, they shot me." He could walk, so he went to find volunteer medics nearby, who cared for his bloodied eye — the munition had shattered his gas mask — and loaded him in a car that police then shot up with more less-lethal rounds, he said.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Alexander Reid Ross (@areidross) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1287841917447757824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2020</a></blockquote>Jennings is not the first journalist to be shot in the eye at a Black Lives Matter protest. It happened to Linda Tirado, a freelance journalist <a href="https://www.insider.com/journalist-blinded-during-george-floyd-protests-files-lawsuit-against-minneapolis-2020-6">who told Business Insider</a> that she was blinded by a "non-lethal" but life-changing projectile. Over one weekend, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, monitors documented over 100 police attacks on credentialed members of the media, including TV crews on the receiving end of a less-lethal volley.For Jennings, who awaits an appointment with a specialist for his damaged eye, the whole ordeal is "a setback.""I'm hoping there's no permanent damage," he said.It's also a revelation."I remember being in a class years ago; a talk from another AP photographer. He said, 'wear your press vests and do your job and you will be fine,'" Jennings said. "That, in my experience, has always been the sort of agreement that we have."Last week a US District Court judge <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/judge-restrains-federal-agents-from-targeting-portland-journalists-2020-7">restrained federal agents</a> from using non-lethal force against journalists and legal observers. The Department of Homeland Security, which has <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/27/politics/ridge-portland-force-not-consistent/index.html">agents in the city,</a> did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the incident.Have a <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> tip? Email this reporter: <a href="mailto:cdavis@insider.com">cdavis@insider.com</a>

A journalist who's worked with PBS and National Geographic tells us what it was like being shot in the eye by law enforcement in Portland

<ul class="summary-list"><li>During protests demanding justice for <keyword id="9295731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="george-floyd">George Floyd</keyword>, some police forces have used <keyword id="722798" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rubber-bullets">rubber bullets</keyword>, considered a "non-lethal method of crowd control." </li><li>When fired at too close a range or too high, rubber bullets can be dangerous and even deadly. </li><li>If the bullet has seriously lacerated the skin, seek emergency care immediately. Otherwise, clean the wound, treat it with a topical like Neosporin, and wrap it in something clean. </li></ul>As protests over the death of George Floyd have flared in cities across the US, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-are-the-george-floyd-protests-so-much-more-intense-2020-6">police responded</a> with batons, tear gas, and rubber bullets, videos show.In many cases, it appears their targets weren't necessarily <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/luxury-stores-looted-vandalized-nyc-la-george-floyd-murder-protests-2020-6">people looting</a> and causing destruction, but rather anyone who was there, including peaceful protesters, <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/06/01/seattle-police-accused-of-macing-child-during-george-floyd-protest/">kids</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/george-floyd-protests-uk-tells-trump-stop-arrests-of-journalists-2020-6">journalists</a>. Linda Tirado, a journalist in Minnesota got shot with a rubber bullet to the eye, and later reported she permanently lost sight in it. While rubber bullets are intended to be a relatively harmless crowd-control technique, they can be extremely harmful, leading to everything from fractures to death, Dr. Jose Torradas, a spokesperson for the American College of Emergency Physicians, told Insider. But there are ways to protect yourself.<h2>Rubber bullets should feel like being hit with a paintball </h2>Rubber bullets are what they sound like, though sometimes they're not completely made of rubber and instead are made of another material like steel and coated in rubber, Torradas said. Law enforcement professionals use them to disperse crowds while, in theory, minimizing harm. "They're used because of their composition and weight and how they're shaped," which allows them to lose velocity quickly, he said. That way, they shouldn't break the skin if they're fired at a far enough distance, as intended. Rubber bullets are also meant to be fired at people's lower extremities — like the thigh — where they are less likely to do damage, thanks to the protective muscle and fat and distance from the face, which is most vulnerable to serious injury, Torradas said. If used like this, rubber bullets shouldn't break the skin or leave much more than a bruise, like you're being hit with a paintball, he said. <h2><div type="image" title="george floyd protests brooklyn bridge" height="3648" width="5472" msid="76146149" hostid="261"></div></h2>But there's "a fine line" between a shot that leaves a minor welt and one that can be dangerous, even deadly, Torradas said. It depends on how close the victim is, how much skin is exposed, and where on the body it lands. "If you're just firing off at close range, not really aiming for the lower limbs, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/police-rioted-george-floyd-riots-justifying-protests-2020-6">you're asking for trouble</a>," he said. Serious injuries can include bone fractures, deep skin lacerations that can lead to serious infections, blindness, nerve damage, and even organ injury that leads to death. <h2>Medical professionals have challenged calling the bullets 'non-lethal'</h2>A <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5736036/">2017 r</a>eview of past research in BMJ Open looked at 1,984 people who had injuries from "kinetic impact projectiles," which includes rubber bullets. It found that 53 of them died and 300 suffered permanent disability. Of those who survived, 71% had severe injuries. "Given their inherent inaccuracy, potential for misuse, and associated <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> consequences of severe injury, disability and death, KIPs do not appear to be appropriate weapons for use in crowd-control settings," the authors wrote. "There is an urgent need to establish international guidelines on the use of crowd-control weapons to prevent unnecessary injuries and deaths." Their conclusions echo that of a 2016 <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4908224/">study</a> reviewing 28 records of patients who sought orthopedic treatment for rubber bullet injuries — including fractures, nerve and tendon damage, and bullets lodged into deep tissue. The authors concluded that "these weapons are lethal and should hence be reclassified." <div type="image" title="FILE - In this May 29, 2020, file photo, demonstrators march in Oakland, Calif. protesting the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man in police custody in Minneapolis. The message from protesters around the United States is that George Floyd is the latest addition to a grim roster of African Americans to be killed by police or white civilians. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)" height="3330" width="5000" msid="76146152" hostid="261"></div><h2>How to treat a rubber bullet wound</h2>One of the best way protesters can avoid serious injury from rubber bullets is to keep as far away from those firing as possible and wear thick clothing, like denim or even leather, that doesn't leave much skin exposed.You can even layer clothes, wear protective pads made for athletes, and men would benefit from wearing an athletic cup, Torradas said. Because the face, and specifically the eyes, are the most vulnerable to permanent injury, it's smart to wear goggles made with "ballistic grade glassware." While ski goggles might suffice, Torradas said, regular glasses will not: In fact, they'll shatter if they're hit and potentially lead to even more injuries. If you do get struck by a bullet that deeply penetrates your skin or that you have any suspicion may have caused a fracture or left particles embedded, seek emergency care immediately. The longer you delay, the worse the outcome, Torradas said. If the injury is a minor abrasion, generously clean it with soap and water or, even better, rubbing alcohol or Betadine. Then use a clean towel to remove any dirt, apply a layer of an antibiotic ointment like Neosporin, and wrap it in gauze, Torradas said. <ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/global-george-floyd-black-lives-matter-protests-photos-2020-5">Thousands across the UK, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and Canada condemn racism and demand justice at global Black Lives Matter protests</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/minneapolis-police-44-people-unconscious-with-neck-restraint-since-2015-2020-6">Nearly 60% of people left unconscious from neck restraints used by Minneapolis police officers were black, report finds</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/nypd-officer-pulls-gun-on-protesters-de-blasio-criticizes-him-2020-6">A New York police officer drew his gun on protesters. Mayor Bill de Blasio says he 'should have his gun and badge taken away.'</a></li></ul>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/why-rubber-bullets-dangerous-what-to-do-if-hit-2020-6">Insider</a>

Rubber bullets can cause blindness, fractures, and organ injury. Here's what to do if you get hit.

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56af54a6c08a80880e8bdf9f-2393/ap_787795615247.jpg" alt="payday lenders loans" />AP Photo/Vik JollyPayday loans oppress low-income Americans, Paul Constant says.<ul class="summary-list"><li>Paul Constant is a writer at Civic Ventures, a cofounder of the Seattle Review of Books, and a frequent cohost of the "<a href="http://www.pitchforkeconomics.com/">Pitchfork Economics</a>" podcast with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/nick-hanauer">Nick Hanauer</a>.</li><li>Constant says payday loans systematically oppress low-income Americans.</li><li>He says changes like <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Colorado_Proposition_111,_Limits_on_Payday_Loan_Charges_Initiative_(2018)">Colorado's Proposition 111</a>, which reduced the annual interest rate on payday loans to 36% annually, show that Americans are ready to get rid of payday loans.</li><li>For more on this topic, listen to the latest episode of "<a href="https://megaphone.link/TYT1936798860">Pitchfork Economics</a>."</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Being poor in America is a full-time job. The commutes of poor Americans are <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/transit-deserts-extreme-commuters-inequality/">often longer</a> than those of middle-class Americans. Buying less expensive, low-quality products - say, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/72745-the-reason-that-the-rich-were-so-rich-vimes-reasoned">a cheap pair of boots with cardboard soles</a> - often results in a larger outlay of money over time than a slightly more expensive and higher quality item. And anyone who's read Linda Tirado's polemic "<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780425277973">Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America</a>" knows that this country is literally rigged against the poor. No industry is quite as emblematic of the systemic oppression of low-income Americans as payday loans. Some <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-sheets/2016/01/payday-loan-facts-and-the-cfpbs-impact">12 million Americans take out payday loans every year, and those loans draw $9 billion in fees annually</a>. That's a staggering number, and once you learn even a little bit about the system, it's easy to see how predatory payday lenders can rack up those huge profits. It turns out, banking while poor is big business in America.Say you need a loan to carry you to the end of the month - your workplace shut down for a week due to flooding, maybe, and you don't have enough money to pay your rent. (You certainly wouldn't be alone; <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/pcs_assets/2012/pewpaydaylendingreportpdf.pdf">a 2012 survey found that 69% of all first time payday loans were accessed to pay off recurring bills</a>.) So you take out a payday loan to keep your landlord happy, providing the lender with a predated check or access to your bank account. Even if you do exactly what you're supposed to do and repay the loan within the prescribed time of two weeks, you will have paid an unbelievable <a href="https://www.incharge.org/debt-relief/how-payday-loans-work/">391% in interest</a> on the loan in that time - the national average interest rate for payday lenders. And if you, like <a href="https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-finds-four-out-of-five-payday-loans-are-rolled-over-or-renewed/">80% of all payday loan recipients</a>, are not able to repay the loan within that two-week window, your interest rate <a href="https://www.incharge.org/debt-relief/how-payday-loans-work/">rockets upward to 521%</a>, and escalates rapidly from there. <a href="https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-finds-four-out-of-five-payday-loans-are-rolled-over-or-renewed/">One fifth of all payday loan recipients</a> wind up in default and with their credit ratings destroyed, which effectively bars them from getting loans for the next seven years of their lives from anyone except, you guessed it, predatory lenders, who will continue to overcharge them at every turn. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/books/review/how-the-other-half-banks-by-mehrsa-baradaran.html?smid=fb-nytbooks&amp;smtyp=cur&amp;fbclid=IwAR3qcB8wqIcK-yQ1B7708cz9bHV8RQ7EYQYZbh1J6yH8x7c7pDsFS2QwEG0">The average American family that earns $25,000 per year spends nearly 10% of that income on financial transactions</a> - literally more than they spend on food in a year.<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d94e8cd270f2d0cb8787cad-2400/paulconstant.jpg" alt="Paul Constant" />Angela CiccuPaul Constant.That profiteering is a feature, not a bug, of the payday loan industry. It's literally how the system is designed to work - to take advantage of people who have zero financial options or backup plans. Meanwhile, the rest of us just a rung or two up the economic ladder enjoy interest rates of 8-to-35% on our credit cards and personal loans. This system exploits people who are already economically vulnerable: those without college degrees, renters, young people, Americans with disabilities, and African Americans. In this week's episode of "<a href="https://megaphone.link/TYT1936798860">Pitchfork Economics</a>," Nick Hanauer and Stephanie Ervin interview two payday lending experts who are helping to break free from this vicious payday lending cycle. Mehrsa Baradaran is a professor at UC Irvine whose recent books are titled "<a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674983960">How the Other Half Banks</a>" and "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Color-Money-Black-Racial-Wealth/dp/0674970950">The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap</a>." Anyone interested in the legacy of enforced poverty in America, and how payday lending is a continuation of Jim Crow-era racist policies, needs to be paying attention to Baradaran. She is a proponent of transforming <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/if-the-us-government-treated-poor-people-as-well-as-it-treats-banks/410614/">US Post Offices into public banking centers</a> offering affordable, inclusive financial services - including savings accounts and small lending. This may sound like a big, bold policy, but postal banking helped the United States recover from the Great Depression, and it's still in practice in nations with high standards of living around the world.While thinkers like Baradaran are dreaming of how to create an alternate system that includes everyone in our economy, others are making great progress in repairing the current system. Cate Blackford co-chaired the campaign for <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Colorado_Proposition_111,_Limits_on_Payday_Loan_Charges_Initiative_(2018)">Colorado Proposition 111</a>, a 2018 state ballot initiative that reduced the annual interest rate on payday loans to 36% annually and eliminated other fees and charges that soak the poor. Blackford's success with Prop 111 defeats the common perception of the payday lending industry as a necessary evil, or an untouchable colossus. It's true that payday loan reform bills have died in states around the nation, including my home of <a href="https://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-city-life/2011/02/afternoon-jolt-repealing-payday-loan-reform">Washington state</a>. Those high profit margins enable predatory lenders to buy the best lobbying firms that money can buy, after all. But the truth is that the American people know a scam when they see one, and once people understand the way that payday loans rip off the poorest Americans, they stand up and fight. Prop 111, for instance, <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Colorado_Proposition_111,_Limits_on_Payday_Loan_Charges_Initiative_(2018)">passed by an overwhelming 77%</a> of the vote in Colorado. When nearly eight out of every 10 voters join hands across party lines and make a unified stand, you know you're on the right side of history.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/banking?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_subscription&amp;itm_content=banking&amp;itm_campaign=banking-2"><img src="https://static.businessinsider.com/image/5dcb17d93afd371433387969" alt="Discover Business Insider Intelligence's Newest Coverage Area: Banking" style="width: 100% !important" /></a> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/adam-grant-on-narcissism-happiness-leadership-careers-at-davos-2020-1">Leading behavioral psychologist reveals how to be a successful narcissist and why you should stop trying to be happy</a></h3> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/upKTM3Nk-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;"></iframe>

You Searched For "linda tirado" and got 11 results

Minneapolis agrees to pay $600,000 to journalist Linda Tirado, who lost an eye covering a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest

Charles R. Davis

After being shot in the face while covering a protest, a freelance journalist and her attorney alleged a conspiracy. A judge just ruled to let the case move forward.

Charles Davis

A journalist sued the city of Minneapolis, saying she was blinded after being shot in the face by police during a George Floyd protest

Charles Davis

'My face exploded': Police firing rubber bullets have wounded and permanently disabled protesters and journalists

Rhea Mahbubani

US police used excessive force at least 125 times in the 10 days after the police killing of George Floyd, according to a new report

Charles Davis

The US response to the George Floyd protests feels uncannily familiar to people who lived through the start of the Arab Spring

Mia Jankowicz

Journalists demand end to harassment after US police launch over 100 attacks on the press this past weekend

Charles Davis

Minneapolis's schools and city agencies are cutting ties with the police department as it stares down a civil rights probe into systemic discrimination

Rhea Mahbubani

A journalist who's worked with PBS and National Geographic tells us what it was like being shot in the eye by law enforcement in Portland

Charles Davis

Rubber bullets can cause blindness, fractures, and organ injury. Here's what to do if you get hit.

Anna Medaris Miller

'Being poor in America is a full-time job': The astronomical cost of banking while poor

Paul Constant