https://www.scmp.com/rss/506123/feed Latest news and updates on the US protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, an African-American, during his arrest in Minneapolis. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Reuters Reuters Minneapolis was on edge on Thursday following the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman in her car by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, the latest violence in US President Donald Trump’s nationwide crackdown on migrants. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey adamantly rejected the Trump administration’s assertion that the agent fired in self defence, saying video of Wednesday’s shooting directly contradicted what he called ‍the government’s “garbage narrative”. “They’re already trying to spin... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3339103/ice-agent-shoots-woman-dead-during-minneapolis-immigration-crackdown?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3339103/ice-agent-shoots-woman-dead-during-minneapolis-immigration-crackdown?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Jan 2026 19:38:09 +0000 Ali Ünal Ali Ünal Western media outlets and think tanks have warned that artificial intelligence (AI) could pose an existential threat to democracy. The early internet and digital communication tools helped disperse political power and strengthen public participation. But today’s advanced algorithms and data-driven systems are often seen as doing the opposite: centralising influence rather than fostering openness. Another common fear is that AI-generated texts, images and voices could be weaponised to manipulate... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3323765/western-democracies-are-facing-their-greatest-test-and-its-not-ai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3323765/western-democracies-are-facing-their-greatest-test-and-its-not-ai?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Sep 2025 12:30:09 +0000 Bloomberg Bloomberg US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth pushed back against Democrats’ criticism of the decision to deploy troops to Los Angeles, telling Congress that the Trump administration wants to protect immigration agents and keep demonstrations there from getting out of control. Asked by congresswoman Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, how much the deployment would cost, Hegseth criticised Governor Tim Walz’s handling of protests that erupted after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis 2020. US... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3313920/hegseth-grilled-over-trumps-la-troop-deployment-estimated-cost-us134-million?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3313920/hegseth-grilled-over-trumps-la-troop-deployment-estimated-cost-us134-million?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Jun 2025 18:37:42 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Americans on Sunday marked five years since George Floyd was killed by a US police officer, as US President Donald Trump backtracks on reforms designed to tackle racism. Floyd’s deadly arrest on May 25, 2020 helped launch the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement into a powerful force that sought to resolve America’s deeply rooted racial issues, from police violence to systemic inequality. But since Trump’s return to power in January – he was serving his first term when Floyd died – his... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3311756/george-floyds-uncertain-legacy-marked-us-5-years?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3311756/george-floyds-uncertain-legacy-marked-us-5-years?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 May 2025 19:46:16 +0000 Republican Senator Tom Cotton has called former US President Donald Trump’s conviction in his hush-money case a “travesty of justice”. While a Republican senator supporting the party’s presidential candidate is no surprise, Cotton’s comments are particularly important as reports have emerged that he’s a contender for Trump’s running mate in the US elections later this year. CBS has reported that Cotton is among those who received vetting documents from Trump’s campaign office. Cotton, a senator... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3266245/meet-senator-tom-cotton-who-could-be-donald-trumps-vp-hes-decried-pro-palestine-protesters-called?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3266245/meet-senator-tom-cotton-who-could-be-donald-trumps-vp-hes-decried-pro-palestine-protesters-called?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Jun 2024 22:00:10 +0000 Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday granted a full pardon to a former US Army sergeant and Uber driver who was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison for fatally shooting a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020. Abbott, a Republican, in his pardon proclamation cited the state’s “Stand Your Ground” self-defence law, one of the strongest such measures in the US. The clemency proclamation was issued shortly after the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole unanimously recommended a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3262985/texas-governor-pardons-man-convicted-murdering-black-lives-matter-protester?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3262985/texas-governor-pardons-man-convicted-murdering-black-lives-matter-protester?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 May 2024 23:57:18 +0000 An incarcerated former gang member and FBI informant was charged on Friday with attempted murder in the stabbing last week of ex-Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin at a federal prison in Arizona. John Turscak stabbed Chauvin 22 times at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson and said he would have killed Chauvin had correctional officers not responded so quickly, federal prosecutors said. Turscak, serving a 30-year sentence for crimes committed while a member of the Mexican Mafia... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3243597/inmate-stabbed-george-floyds-killer-derek-chauvin-22-times-improvised-knife?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3243597/inmate-stabbed-george-floyds-killer-derek-chauvin-22-times-improvised-knife?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Dec 2023 22:27:23 +0000 Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, was stabbed by another inmate and seriously injured on Friday at a prison in Arizona, a person familiar with the matter said. The attack happened at the Federal Correctional Institution, Tucson, a medium-security prison that has been plagued by security lapses and staffing shortages. The person was not authorised to publicly discuss details of the attack and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Bureau... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3242796/ex-minneapolis-officer-derek-chauvin-who-was-convicted-killing-george-floyd-stabbed-prison?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3242796/ex-minneapolis-officer-derek-chauvin-who-was-convicted-killing-george-floyd-stabbed-prison?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Nov 2023 03:39:05 +0000 The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin of his conviction for the murder of George Floyd during a 2020 arrest, which sparked widespread protests against police brutality and racism. The justices turned away Chauvin’s appeal that he filed after a Minnesota appellate court upheld his 2021 murder conviction and rejected his request for a new trial. Chauvin had argued that jury bias and certain rulings by the presiding judge... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3242234/us-supreme-court-rejects-ex-police-officer-derek-chauvins-appeal-george-floyd-murder?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3242234/us-supreme-court-rejects-ex-police-officer-derek-chauvins-appeal-george-floyd-murder?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Nov 2023 16:46:08 +0000 Thousands of Americans converged on Washington on Saturday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, a pivotal event in the 1960s US civil rights movement at which Martin Luther King Jnr gave his galvanising “I have a dream” speech. The 1963 march brought more than 250,000 people to the nation’s capital to push for an end to discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex or national origin. Many credit the show of strength with the passage of the Civil Rights... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3232428/thousands-gather-washington-60th-anniversary-martin-luther-kings-dream-speech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3232428/thousands-gather-washington-60th-anniversary-martin-luther-kings-dream-speech?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Aug 2023 15:48:36 +0000 Dutch King Willem-Alexander apologised on Saturday for his country’s role in slavery and asked for forgiveness in a historic speech greeted by cheers and whoops at an event to commemorate the anniversary of the abolition of slavery. The king’s speech followed Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s apology late last year for the country’s role in the slave trade and slavery. It is part of a wider reckoning with colonial histories in the West that have been spurred in recent years by the Black Lives... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3226260/dutch-king-apologises-his-countrys-role-slavery-150th-anniversary-abolition?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3226260/dutch-king-apologises-his-countrys-role-slavery-150th-anniversary-abolition?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Jul 2023 17:58:00 +0000 A former Minneapolis police officer who held back bystanders while his colleagues restrained a dying George Floyd has been convicted of aiding and abetting manslaughter. Tou Thao, who already had been convicted in federal court of violating Floyd’s civil rights, was last of the four former officers facing judgment in state court in Floyd’s killing. He rejected a plea agreement and, instead of going to trial, let Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill decide the verdict based on written filings by... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3219175/ex-minneapolis-officer-who-held-back-crowd-found-guilty-aiding-george-floyds-killing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3219175/ex-minneapolis-officer-who-held-back-crowd-found-guilty-aiding-george-floyds-killing?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 May 2023 14:00:20 +0000 The lawyer representing the family of Tyre Nichols, the black man who was fatally beaten by Memphis police officers, called on Sunday for the US Congress to pass police reform legislation, and said Nichols’ mother hoped the tragedy could lead to a “greater good”. “Shame on us if we don’t use his tragic death to finally get the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed,” Ben Crump told CNN’s State of the Union programme. All five officers are expected to appear in court on February 17 at in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3208385/death-tyre-nichols-must-galvanise-efforts-reform-police-says-nichols-family-lawyer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3208385/death-tyre-nichols-must-galvanise-efforts-reform-police-says-nichols-family-lawyer?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Jan 2023 17:20:09 +0000 The Memphis police chief on Saturday disbanded the unit whose officers beat to death Tyre Nichols as the nation and the city struggled to come to grips with video showing police pummelling the black motorist. Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said she listened to Nichols’ relatives, community leaders and uninvolved officers in making the decision. “It is in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate the Scorpion unit,” she said in a statement. She said the officers currently assigned to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3208337/memphis-police-disbands-scorpion-unit-beat-death-black-motorist-tyre-nichols?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3208337/memphis-police-disbands-scorpion-unit-beat-death-black-motorist-tyre-nichols?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Jan 2023 22:54:49 +0000 The US city of Memphis on Friday released graphic video footage depicting the fatal police assault of a 29-year-old black man, as cities nationwide braced for a night of protests against police brutality. Five Memphis officers, also all black, were charged with second-degree murder in the beating of Tyre Nichols, who died in hospital on January 10 three days after being stopped on suspicion of reckless driving. The lengthy video footage from police body cameras shows a group of officers... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3208284/memphis-releases-video-tyre-nichols-deadly-beating-police-officers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3208284/memphis-releases-video-tyre-nichols-deadly-beating-police-officers?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Jan 2023 02:07:50 +0000 US authorities on Thursday charged five former police officers with murder over the fatal beating of a black man in Memphis, as the southern city braced for possible civil unrest and President Joe Biden urged demonstrators to protest peacefully. Tyre Nichols, 29, was stopped on January 7 for what the Memphis Police Department said was reckless driving. After a chase ensued, “police brutalised him to the point of being unrecognisable,” family lawyers Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci said in a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3208138/5-us-police-officers-charged-murder-over-brutal-beating-black-man-tyre-nichols?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3208138/5-us-police-officers-charged-murder-over-brutal-beating-black-man-tyre-nichols?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Jan 2023 23:41:23 +0000 Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologised on Monday on behalf of his government for the Netherlands’ historical role in slavery and the slave trade, despite calls for him to delay the long-awaited statement. “Today I apologise,” Rutte said in a 20-minute speech that was greeted with silence by an invited audience at the National Archive. Rutte went ahead with the apology even though some activist groups urged him to wait until next year’s July 1 anniversary of the country’s abolition of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3203904/dutch-prime-minister-apologises-netherlands-role-slave-trade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3203904/dutch-prime-minister-apologises-netherlands-role-slave-trade?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Dec 2022 15:15:10 +0000 In a horrific incident in Australia this week, two police officers and a member of the public were fatally shot in an ambush attack in Queensland. Another two officers were injured in the Monday night attack. Our research shows attacks on police are increasing both in Australia and internationally, which may be a result of growing civil unrest. Data before the Covid-19 pandemic revealed that civil unrest had doubled globally in the past decade, including an increase in violent riots and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3203180/australia-shooting-highlights-global-rise-anti-police-sentiment-us-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3203180/australia-shooting-highlights-global-rise-anti-police-sentiment-us-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Dec 2022 16:30:08 +0000 Fashion and politics have been intertwined since ancient times, when Roman Sumptuary Laws dictated which citizens were allowed to wear what. There have been countless examples of similar statutes in the years since, such as during the French Revolution (1789-1799) when the extravagance of the aristocracy was outlawed. In more recent examples, the US Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968) had a dress code asking protesters to wear their “Sunday Best”, while the political organisation the Black Panther... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3195774/kanye-wests-white-lives-matter-shirts-show-fashion-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3195774/kanye-wests-white-lives-matter-shirts-show-fashion-and?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Oct 2022 10:15:10 +0000 Two white Atlanta police officers will not face charges for the 2020 fatal shooting of a Black man who was shot twice in the back, a prosecutor said on Tuesday. Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, said that after reviewing the evidence, charges were not warranted against the officers for the death of Rayshard Brooks. The 27-year-old Brooks was shot dead on June 12, 2020, outside a fast-food restaurant in Atlanta after a struggle with officers... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3189954/no-charges-white-atlanta-police-officers-fatally?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3189954/no-charges-white-atlanta-police-officers-fatally?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Aug 2022 00:55:43 +0000 The white father and son convicted of murder in Ahmaud Arbery’s fatal shooting after they chased the 25-year-old black man through a Georgia neighbourhood were sentenced on Monday to life in prison for committing a federal hate crime. US District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood handed down the sentences against Travis McMichael, 36, and his father, Greg McMichael, 66, reiterating the gravity of the February 2020 killing that shattered their Brunswick community and became part of a larger national... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3188209/life-sentence-racial-hate-crime-man-who-shot-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3188209/life-sentence-racial-hate-crime-man-who-shot-and?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Aug 2022 16:05:26 +0000 The US Justice Department announced civil rights charges on Thursday against four Louisville police officers over the drug raid that led to the death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman whose fatal shooting contributed to the racial justice protests that rocked the US in the spring and summer of 2020. The charges are another effort to hold law enforcement accountable for the killing of the 26-year-old medical worker after one of the officers was acquitted of state charges earlier this year. Federal... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3187767/us-charges-4-police-officers-breonna-taylors-death?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3187767/us-charges-4-police-officers-breonna-taylors-death?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Aug 2022 18:25:23 +0000 Feel strongly about this letter, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification. In the week before the Fourth of July celebration in the US this year, an unarmed African-American named Jayland Walker – who had worked as a delivery man for DoorDash and recently lost his fiancée –... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3184579/latest-us-police-shooting-black-man-yet-another-symptom-systemic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3184579/latest-us-police-shooting-black-man-yet-another-symptom-systemic?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Jul 2022 06:30:23 +0000 4/5 stars Adapted from the nonfiction book by Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton, We Own This City is the latest series from David Simon to bring tales of cops, crime and corruption to the small screen. Best-known for his landmark shows The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Streets, Simon once again hits the mean streets of Baltimore, Maryland, in a story about the underhand tactics employed by the police department’s Gun Trace Task Force. His typically sprawling and immersive narrative stretches... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3174924/hbo-drama-review-we-own-city-wires-david-simon-returns?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3174924/hbo-drama-review-we-own-city-wires-david-simon-returns?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Apr 2022 20:15:14 +0000 A US federal judge ruled on Friday that a Virginia school system illegally discriminated against Asian-Americans when it overhauled the admissions policies at an elite public school. The ruling from US District Judge Claude Hilton found that impermissible “racial balancing” was at the core of the plan to overhaul admissions to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, known as “TJ”. The school routinely ranks as the best or one of the best public schools in the country, and slots... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3168491/new-admissions-rules-elite-us-high-school?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3168491/new-admissions-rules-elite-us-high-school?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Feb 2022 23:37:11 +0000 Three former Minneapolis police officers were found guilty on Thursday of depriving George Floyd of his rights by failing to give aid to the handcuffed black man pinned beneath a colleague’s knee. The jury also found that the conduct of officers Tou Thao, 36; J. Alexander Kueng, 28; and Thomas Lane, 38, caused Floyd’s death, a finding that can affect the severity of their sentence. The case hinged on questions about when an officer has a duty to intervene in another’s misconduct. It is a rare... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3168325/three-ex-us-police-officers-found-guilty-violating?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3168325/three-ex-us-police-officers-found-guilty-violating?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Feb 2022 23:32:20 +0000 A US jury found three white men guilty of federal hate crimes on Tuesday for the murder of a black man who was shot dead while jogging in their Georgia neighbourhood two years ago. Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael and their neighbour William Bryan were convicted of violating the civil rights of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old African-American man. The McMichaels and Bryan are already serving life sentences after being found guilty in a state trial in November of the February 2020... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3168017/ahmaud-arbery-murder-three-white-us-men-convicted?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3168017/ahmaud-arbery-murder-three-white-us-men-convicted?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Feb 2022 18:34:31 +0000 In 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States was watched by the world. Its message – that racism, particularly structural racism – was alive and well in the 21st century was powerful and resonated with many. However, racism is just the tip of the iceberg to a much deeper and insidious phenomenon: white privilege. While systemised racism against African Americans is terrible and must be addressed urgently, the reality is that white privilege has a global reach and very real... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3165408/racism-and-winter-olympics-are-just-tip-white-privilege-iceberg?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3165408/racism-and-winter-olympics-are-just-tip-white-privilege-iceberg?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 31 Jan 2022 22:30:26 +0000 A US judge in Georgia sentenced Travis McMichael and his father Gregory McMichael on Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for what he called the “chilling” 2020 murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black-American man running through their mostly White neighbourhood in the southern state. Judge Timothy Walmsley also gave a life sentence to their neighbour William “Roddie” Bryan but ruled that he could seek parole after 30 years in prison, the minimum sentence allowed for murder under... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3162629/black-jogger-ahmaud-arberys-killers-sentenced-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3162629/black-jogger-ahmaud-arberys-killers-sentenced-life?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Jan 2022 20:51:00 +0000 A Minnesota jury on Thursday found former police officer Kim Potter guilty of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of black motorist Daunte Wright during a traffic stop when she mistakenly fired her handgun instead of her taser. A 12-member jury declared Potter, 49, guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the death of the 20-year-old Wright, whom she killed in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Centre on April 11 with a bullet to the chest. Potter, who broke down last week on the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3160898/us-policewoman-kim-potter-who-mistook-gun-taser?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3160898/us-policewoman-kim-potter-who-mistook-gun-taser?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Dec 2021 20:07:24 +0000 Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty on Wednesday in a federal court to charges he violated George Floyd’s civil rights, likely extending his prison sentence after his earlier conviction for the black man’s murder. Chauvin, 45, appeared in the US District Court in St Paul, Minnesota, in an orange jumpsuit to waive his right to a trial by changing his plea to guilty in an agreement with prosecutors. A state judge had already sentenced Chauvin to 22½ years in prison... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3159872/derek-chauvin-pleads-guilty-violating-george-floyds?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3159872/derek-chauvin-pleads-guilty-violating-george-floyds?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Dec 2021 17:23:38 +0000 The United States has joined an annual list of “backsliding” democracies for the first time, the International IDEA think tank said on Monday, pointing to a “visible deterioration” it said began in 2019. Globally, more than one in four people live in a backsliding democracy, a proportion that rises to more than two in three with the addition of authoritarian or “hybrid” regimes, according to the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. “This year we coded... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3156928/us-joins-annual-list-backsliding-democracies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3156928/us-joins-annual-list-backsliding-democracies?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Nov 2021 07:05:48 +0000 China’s foreign ministry in Hong Kong has criticised a United States policy allowing city residents granted so-called safe haven status to apply for work there, urging Washington to “pull back from the brink” and end its “brutal meddling” campaign. A spokesman for the office of China’s foreign ministry commissioner in Hong Kong on Thursday accused the US of exaggerating the impact of the national security law in a bid to create fear and stir up social conflict in the city. Washington was... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3153221/chinas-foreign-ministry-hong-kong-tells-washington-pull?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3153221/chinas-foreign-ministry-hong-kong-tells-washington-pull?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Oct 2021 15:47:23 +0000 In March 2021, a video showing an Asian-American woman being brutally attacked in New York went viral. The 65-year old, on her way to church, was punched and kicked to the ground in the vile midday attack in Manhattan. Hate crimes against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) have risen dramatically since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which first emerged to infect people in Wuhan, China. US advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate logged almost 3,800 incidents against Asian-Americans and... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3151092/when-you-witness-discrimination-dont-stand-take?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3151092/when-you-witness-discrimination-dont-stand-take?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Oct 2021 09:45:23 +0000 The United Nations General Assembly pledged on Wednesday to redouble efforts to combat racism around the world, commemorating a landmark but contentious 2001 anti-racism conference by holding an anniversary meeting once again riven with divisions. Looking back on the two decades since the conference in Durban, South Africa, the assembly adopted a resolution that acknowledged some progress but deplored what it called a rise in discrimination, violence and intolerance directed at people of African... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3149760/un-meeting-racism-renews-divides-us-israel-boycott?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3149760/un-meeting-racism-renews-divides-us-israel-boycott?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Sep 2021 04:00:34 +0000 Queen Elizabeth and the royal family back the Black Lives Matter movement, one of her senior representatives said in a television interview to be broadcast on Friday. Philanthropist Kenneth Olisa, the first black Lord Lieutenant of Greater London, told Channel 4 News that he had discussed the issue with members of the royal family since George Floyd died in police custody in the United States last year, sparking global protests over racial injustice. Asked if they supported the movement, the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3148370/britains-queen-elizabeth-and-royal-family-back-black-lives-matter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3148370/britains-queen-elizabeth-and-royal-family-back-black-lives-matter?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Sep 2021 15:31:58 +0000 A crowd erupted in cheers and song Wednesday as workers hoisted one of the nation’s largest Confederate monuments off a pedestal where the figure of General Robert E. Lee towered over Virginia’s capital city for more than a century. The statue was lowered to the ground just before 9am, after a construction worker who strapped harnesses around Lee and his horse lifted his arms in the air and counted, “Three, two, one!” to jubilant shouts from hundreds of people. A work crew then began cutting it... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3148062/statue-general-robert-e-lee-comes-down-virginia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3148062/statue-general-robert-e-lee-comes-down-virginia?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Sep 2021 17:27:35 +0000 Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm by Robin DiAngelo pub. Beacon Press In an early chapter of her 2018 bestseller White Fragility, American writer Robin DiAngelo describes a scene with which – allowing for cultural adjustments – you may be familiar. A white woman and her white child are in a grocery store. The child sees a black man and shouts, “Mommy, that man’s skin is black!” People, including the man, turn to stare. DiAngelo, who is white and has been running... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/3141517/white-fragility-author-robin-diangelo-nice-racism-her?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/3141517/white-fragility-author-robin-diangelo-nice-racism-her?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Jul 2021 18:30:13 +0000 Fifty-three years after Tommie Smith and John Carlos’s medal podium protest in Mexico City, a new generation of activist athletes is poised to take centre stage at the Tokyo Olympics. US sprinters Smith and Carlos faced the ultimate sanction for their black-gloved salute of defiance in 1968, expelled from the Games in disgrace and returning home to be greeted by widespread opprobrium. But while attitudes to Smith and Carlos have shifted over time – the duo are now celebrated as civil rights... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3141028/tokyo-olympics-will-activist-athletes-test-rules-protesting?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3141028/tokyo-olympics-will-activist-athletes-test-rules-protesting?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Jul 2021 04:17:24 +0000 Our Tokyo Trail series looks at key issues and athletes in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics, which are scheduled for late July. This is the second in a two-part feature on Asian-American gymnasts who made headlines in the past week. When Asian-American gymnast Sunisa Lee clinched her spot on the US women’s gymnastics team last weekend, members of the Hmong ethnic minority rejoiced in her historic achievement. The 18-year-old will become the first member of the community – which has its roots in... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3139706/tokyo-olympics-hmong-american-gymnast-sunisa-lee-makes-history?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3139706/tokyo-olympics-hmong-american-gymnast-sunisa-lee-makes-history?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Jul 2021 00:00:23 +0000 A Minnesota judge sentenced former police officer Derek Chauvin to 22-1/2 years in prison on Friday for the murder of George Floyd during an arrest in May 2020 on a Minneapolis pavement, video of which sparked global protests. A jury found Chauvin, 45, guilty on April of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter after a trial that was widely seen as a watershed moment in the history of US policing. Prosecutors had asked for a 30-year prison sentence,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3138839/former-police-officer-derek-chauvin-sentenced-22?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3138839/former-police-officer-derek-chauvin-sentenced-22?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Jun 2021 20:26:01 +0000 Happy Juneteenth! It only took 155 years for the United States to make the full emancipation of enslaved African-Americans a federal holiday.  Let’s put cynicism aside and appreciate that the US government made the change only within a year of the wave of Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Antifa demonstrations that rumbled through major cities and small towns during the pandemic.  When news began circulating about the proposal to make Juneteenth – June 19 – a federal holiday, it seemed as though... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3138122/juneteenth-welcome-us-needs-election-day-holiday-fight-inequality?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3138122/juneteenth-welcome-us-needs-election-day-holiday-fight-inequality?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Jun 2021 19:30:00 +0000 Parades, picnics and lessons in history were offered to commemorate Juneteenth in the US, a day that carried even more significance after Congress and President Joe Biden created a federal holiday to observe the end of slavery. A new holiday was “really awesome. It’s starting to recognise the African American experience”, said Detroit artist Hubert Massey, 63, on Saturday. “But we still have a long way to go.” In Detroit, which is about 80 per cent Black, students from University Prep Art &... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3138035/juneteenth-new-holiday-commemorating-end-slavery?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3138035/juneteenth-new-holiday-commemorating-end-slavery?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Jun 2021 21:58:02 +0000 Prosecutors say the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder and manslaughter in George Floyd’s death should not be granted a new trial, because the proceedings were fair and Derek Chauvin was found guilty by an impartial jury, according to a court document filed on Wednesday. The state’s document came in response to defence requests to grant Chauvin a new trial and to hold a hearing to question jurors about alleged misconduct. Among other things, defence lawyer Eric Nelson said... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3137587/new-trial-george-floyd-killer-derek-chauvin-not?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3137587/new-trial-george-floyd-killer-derek-chauvin-not?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Jun 2021 23:31:29 +0000 A second teenager appeared in court on Saturday on a charge of conspiracy to murder over the shooting in south London last month of Sasha Johnson, a prominent member of the Black Lives Matter movement in Britain. The Metropolitan Police said 18-year-old Devonte Brown was charged on Friday evening. He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court and was remanded into custody with an order to appear at the Old Bailey courthouse on July 7. Johnson, a mother of two, was shot in the head at a house... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3137110/second-teenager-charged-over-london-shooting-black?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3137110/second-teenager-charged-over-london-shooting-black?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Jun 2021 19:22:15 +0000 A teenager who recorded the murder of George Floyd in a clear and unrelenting single shot with her mobile phone was recognised on Friday by the arbiters of the highest honours in US journalism. The Pulitzer Board awarded Darnella Frazier a special citation for a video she said has haunted her ever since, showing Floyd’s death beneath the knee of Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis policeman. Chauvin was convicted of murdering Floyd in a trial during which Frazier’s video was played... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3137046/pulitzers-honour-teenager-darnella-frazier-mobile?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3137046/pulitzers-honour-teenager-darnella-frazier-mobile?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Jun 2021 23:08:00 +0000 The anniversary of George Floyd’s death was supposed to be a milestone moment, a time to mark passage of legislation to “root out systemic racism” in the criminal justice system, in the words of President Joe Biden. Instead, Floyd’s family visited Washington on Tuesday to mourn with Biden and prod Congress to act as they commemorate the loss of their brother, father and son one year ago. “Today is the day that he set the world in a rage,” Floyd’s brother Philonise said, addressing reporters at... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3134837/joe-biden-meets-george-floyds-family-anniversary?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3134837/joe-biden-meets-george-floyds-family-anniversary?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 May 2021 20:45:43 +0000 An activist who has played a leading role in anti-racism demonstrations in Britain was in critical condition in a London hospital on Monday after being shot. The Taking the Initiative Party said Sasha Johnson, who played a leading role in Black Lives Matter protests last year, was shot in the head on Sunday. Police and a friend said it did not appear to be a targeted attack, though the party said Johnson had received “numerous death threats” related to her activism. The party said Johnson was “a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3134695/british-black-lives-matter-activist-critical-condition-after?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3134695/british-black-lives-matter-activist-critical-condition-after?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 May 2021 16:52:40 +0000 Members of George Floyd’s family, and others who lost loved ones to police encounters, joined activists and citizens in Minneapolis on Sunday for a march that was one of several events planned nationwide to mark the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death. The George Floyd Memorial Foundation, a non-profit based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where Floyd was born, is hosting a series of events in Minneapolis this weekend and early next week to honour Floyd on the anniversary. Those events... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3134577/george-floyds-family-and-activists-hold-rally-mark?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3134577/george-floyds-family-and-activists-hold-rally-mark?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 May 2021 22:42:08 +0000 A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest and death, accusing them of wilfully violating the black man’s constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air. A three-count indictment unsealed on Friday names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao. Specifically, Chauvin is charged with violating Floyd’s right to be free from unreasonable seizure and unreasonable force by a police... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3132723/george-floyd-death-federal-grand-jury-indicts-four?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3132723/george-floyd-death-federal-grand-jury-indicts-four?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 May 2021 16:15:09 +0000