Black Lives Matter

Quaker Oats's "Aunt Jemima" is being rebranded as "Pearl Milling Company", PepsiCo, the parent company for Quaker Oats, said. The name change was announced in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter protests against systemic racism and police brutality.

"Pearl Milling Company-branded pancake mixes, syrups, cornmeal, flour, and grits products will start to arrive in market in June 2021. Pearl Milling Company will offer people all their favorite pancake mix and syrup varieties in the same familiar red packaging previously found under the Aunt Jemima brand. Products will continue to be available under the Aunt Jemima name without the character image until June," so PepsiCo.

Kyle Rittenhouse, the now 18-year old teenager who was charged with killing two protestors and wounding another during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has pleaded not guilty to all charges on Tuesday.

Rittenhouse, who is free on a $2 million bail, appeared before the Kenosha County Circuit Court by video link. He is facing charges for first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, violation of curfew, and attempted first-degree intentional reckless homicide.

In Kenosha, Wisconsin, the top prosecutor declined to bring charges against Rusten Sheskey, the police officer who shot and gravely wounded Jacob Blake outside an apartment building in August.

Mr Blake was left paralysed from the waist down after being shot several times in the back as he got into a car where his three children were sitting.

Henry 'Enrique' Tarrio, leader of rightwing Proud Boys, has been arrested ahead of pro-Donald Trump protests in Washington DC and was charged with destruction of property and possession of firearms. Tarrio allegedly burned a Black Lives Matter banner taken from a historic Black church during a pro-Trump protest on December 12.

"He was charged with Destruction of Property related to an offense that occurred on Saturday, December 12, 2020 in the 900 block of 11th Street, Northwest," DC Metropolitan Police Department Public Information Officer Sean Hickman said. "At the time of his arrest, he was found to be in possession of two high capacity firearm magazines. He was additionally charged with Possession of High Capacity Feeding Device."

The city of Detroit has filed a lawsuit against the Black Lives Matter movement. The lawsuit alleges that demonstrators were part of "civil conspiracy to disturb the peace, engage in disorderly conduct, incite riots, destroy public property," and resist police orders, among other "illegal acts."

Pharrell Williams has launched "Black Ambition", a non-profit initiative to support Black and Latinx startups in design, tech, healthcare and consumer products. The initiative has launched a call for applications on December 2 and is offering both seed capital and pitch feedback and mentorship.

"Recent events and tragedies have illustrated the always existent stark divisions in the American experience, and while entrepreneurship has long been a tenet of the American dream, marginalized people have faced long-standing barriers to success," so Williams. With Black Ambition, the goal is to help strengthen the pipeline of talented entrepreneurs and close the opportunity and wealth gaps derived from limited access to capital and resources."

A 40-year-old black man died Thursday after being assaulted by a security guard and an off-duty Police officer, at the Carrefour supermarket in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Both assailants were arrested, suspected of murder.

The victim, identified as João Alberto Silveira Freitas, would have argued with the cashier of the establishment and was led by the security guard of the shop to the car park on the lower floor.

Videos showing the beating and the attempt by rescuers to save the man have been circulating on social networks since last night. The images show Freitas receiving several punches in the face from one of the men, while the other tries to hold him.

After Monday's shooting of the 27-year-old Black man Walter Wallace, who was shot and killed during a confrontation with Philadelphia police, protests have erupted in the city. According to Police, a large crowd, which they estimated to be approximately 1,000 people, looted businesses in Port Richmond, Philadelphia Tuesday night. Police have now asked residents to stay indoors, "requesting that all residents in the 12, 16, 18, 19, 24, 25, and 26th Districts remain indoors except when necessary."

"All this violence and looting. I don't want to leave a bad scar on my son and my family with this looting and chaos stuff. So I want my son's name and everybody to stop this. Give my son a chance. And the family like we're decent people," Wallace's father told CNN. "Everybody to have respect for our family, to pray for us. Cut it out. The looting is a mindset and it won't bring my son back. And it won't, it will escalate things to get worse instead of better."

Protests resumed in Louisville after none of the three police officers involved in the operation would be directly accused of Breonna Taylor's death in March.

In protests that followed the judicial decision, two police officers were shot in Louisville. Their injuries are not life-threatening, according to acting police chief Robert Schroeder. One suspect has been arrested.

A United States grand jury has moved forward and indicted one of the police officers, Officer Brett Hankison, involved in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Hankison has been charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in the 1st degree. The other two officers have not been charged.

Following an internal memo released on Monday, the Louisville Metro Police Department is currently under a state of emergency. All departments are operating on emergency staffing and reporting, off-days are cancelled as well as unapproved vacation requests.

The decision as been made "in anticipation" of an announcement in the Breonna Taylor case.

The United States Department of Justice has declared New York City, Portland and Seattle "anarchist jurisdictions" as all three cities "have permitted violence and destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract criminal activities." This move comes after President Trump signed a memo that threatened to defund Democratic-led cities he deemed "lawless".

Designated cities face potential financial consequences and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio's office is preparing to sue in case of funding cuts.

US Attorney General William Barr reportedly asked prosecutors of the justice department if Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan (D) could be charged for allowing BLM protests to continue in an autonomous police-free zone without police oversight, the New York Times reports, citing two sources familiar with the conversation.

Barr also wanted prosecutors to consider charging protestors with sedition, a charge usually used for people who conspire against the state.

The city of Louisville has settled the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Breonna Taylor, the black woman who was shot by white police officers in her home on March 13, 2020. The family will receive a $12 million settlement and city officials have agreed on instituting reforms "aimed at preventing future deaths by police officers, according to three people familiar with the details," the New York Times reports.

Jacob Blake, the black man who was shot seven times by a Kenosha police officer, released a video message from his hospital bed. The video was posted by @money_mike_la on Instagram and shared publicly by Ben Crump, Blake's attorney, on Twitter.

"I just wanna say [...] there's a lot more life to live out there. Your life, and not only just your life, your legs – something that you need to move around and forward in life – can be taken from you like this, man," he said snapping his fingers.

"Twenty-four hours, every 24 hours it's pain, it's nothing but pain. It hurts to breathe, it hurts to sleep, it hurts to move from side-to-side, it hurts to eat," Blake continues. "Please, I'm telling you, change your lives out there. We can stick together, make some money, make everything easier for our people out there, man, because there's so much time that's been wasted."

The seven police officers, who were involved in the March arrest of Black man Daniel Prude, have been suspended. Prude was pinned to the ground, put in a "spit hood" and later died of "complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint."

"I am suspending the officers in question today against council's advice, and I urge the attorney general to complete her investigation. Daniel Prude was failed by our police department, our mental healthcare system, our society and, he was failed by me," so Rochester's mayor Lovely Warren, who said that systemic racism led to Prude's death.

41-year-old Black man Daniel Prude had died of asphyxiation in March after police in Rochester, NY put a so-called "spit hood" over his head and pressed his face into the ground for over three minutes, body camera footage and documents released by Prude's family reveal.

Prude's brother Joe called the police on March, 23 to get help for his brother who was suffering from "an acute, manic, psychotic episode." Prude, who was naked, became agitated but complied with police. The officers handcuffed Prude and put a "spit hood" over his head, as Prude had been spitting at the officers they later told investigators.

In the footage, Prude can be heard yelling "You're trying to kill me!", while officers held down his head for over three minutes. Prude was unresponsive when paramedics arrived and was given CPR at the scene. One officer can be heard saying "he feels pretty cold."

Prude was taken to a hospital where he was taken off life support a week later.

According to the New York state's attorney general an investigation is under way.

When asked whether systemic racism is a problem in the United States during his trip to Kenosha on Tuesday, President Trump refused to answer the question directly and instead focussed on "violence we've seen in Portland and here and other places."

"The fact is that we've seen tremendous violence and we will put it out very, very quickly if given the chance," so Trump.

Addressing whether there is a need for structural change to the law enforcement, he said: "Well I think the people are calling for structural change. And then you take the people of Kenosha that aren't here and that you won't see and that aren't protesting, but they want change also. They want to see law and order. That's the change they want. They want the police to be police."

"They want people that are going to keep them safe, where their houses aren't broken into. Where they're not raped and murdered. That's what they want. And they're protesters, too, but they don't walk down the street... so, you know, just the way it is," he added.

During President Trump's visit to Kenosha, he addressed the family of Jacob Blake, who was shot seven times in the back by a police officer.

"I feel terribly for anybody that goes through that. As you know, it's under investigation," Trump said. "I hope they come up with the right answer. It's a complicated subject, to be honest with you. But I feel terribly for anybody who has to go through -- and I didn't get to speak to the mother, I hear she's a fine woman. I hear from the pastor, a really fine woman. But you can see when I spoke with the pastors, I see exactly what it is and they understand where I am. And if we can help we're going to help but it is a question. It's under investigation. A lot of things happened with that and other things, frankly, that we're looking at very, very closely."

President Donald Trump decried Black Lives Matter as a "Marxist organisation" that is "so discriminatory" and "bad for Black people."

"Black Lives Matter is a Marxist organisation. The first time I ever heard of Black Lives Matter, I said, 'That’s a terrible name.' It’s so discriminatory. It’s bad for Black people. It’s bad for everybody," so Trump.