Latest Mayor’s office: Demobilization of the National Guard ‘currently underway’
The Pennsylvania National Guard, which deployed in Philadelphia on Monday, June 1 following a weekend of widespread looting and violence, will begin to leave the city today, according to Mayor Jim Kenney’s office.
“Demobilization of the National Guard is currently underway. They will, however, remain in the area for the next few days in the event their support is needed again,” a spokesperson said Tuesday, without providing further details.
Gov. Tom Wolf’s office was not immediately available for comment.
The move comes following several days of peaceful protests in Philadelphia, where there were few arrests and little to no violence.
— Chris Palmer
‘I want to make it permanent and not a stunt’
As rumors began to circulate on social media Wednesday morning that the Fishtown “End Racism Now” street mural that Troy Musto and his daughter, Stella, helped to paint last night had already washed away, Musto said he had to see the scene for himself.
“I’m glad to see it’s still here,” he said, standing with Stella near the bold yellow letters in front of the 26th Police District. “But if it was just a PR stunt, if it was just condescension that can be washed away, I want to make it not a joke, I want to make it permanent and not a stunt.”
“We didn’t come out here to paint last night for any PR stunt, we came to support Black Lives Matter,” Musto said, adding that after a tumultuous week in the neighborhood, the scene last night in Fishtown was “beautiful.”
“People were out here last night who would have not otherwise come out,” he said.
When David Formaya heard the mural was still in the street this morning, he biked from his home in Center City to Fishtown to take photos.
“Hopefully it stays around for a while,” he said.
A spokesperson from Mayor Jim Kenney’s office said the city “has no intentions of removing it as this time.”
Formaya said he participated in his first protest ever at the Art Museum on Saturday, where thousands showed up to demonstrate against police brutality in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
“It was powerful,” he said. “I had my reservations with covid, and with things going awry, but some friends convinced me to go, and I’m glad I went.”
— Oona Goodin-Smith
Carson Wentz among the 1,400 signatures backing bill to end qualified immunity for police
The Ending Qualified Immunity Act, introduced in the House on June 4 following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, would prevent state government officials from raising a qualified immunity defense in a civil rights suit.
“Qualified immunity shields police from accountability, impedes true justice, and undermines the constitutional rights of every person in this country,” Rep. Pressley (D., Mass), one of the bill’s sponsors, said last week. Reps. Justin Amash (L., Mich.), the bill’s other sponsor, said police officers "must be held accountable when they violate people’s rights.”
In addition to Wentz and former teammate Malcom Jenkins, the Players Coalition letter backing the legislation was signed by other notable athletes and coaches, including:
- New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady
- Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott
- Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman
- Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr
- San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich
— Rob Tornoe
‘End Racism Now’ painting in Fishtown not erased from street overnight, organizer denies police involvement
According to a spokesperson for Mayor Jim Kenney, the city said the words could remain until they “faded naturally.” But John T. Brice, pastor of St. James United Methodist Church who organized the event, requested the words be removed overnight to ensure the streets remained safe with clear driving lines.
The city’s fire department attempted unsuccessfully to clean off the paint Tuesday night, so the phrase remained on the street Wednesday morning, despite rumors on social media it had been washed away.
The spokesperson said the city “has no intentions of removing it as this time.”
Brice said he was hurt to hear people call him a “pawn” for organizing the event and inviting law enforcement to take part. But to him as a minister, engaging with police officers does more to facilitate healing than ostracizing them, he said.
The street painting was a grassroots efforts that he said he and several other community members began planning Monday.
“This is nothing that the local 26th precinct wanted to do,” Brice said. “Capt. [William] Fisher had an option to even cancel.”
While Brice would’ve loved for the words to be permanently etched in Fishtown, he said it would have taken more time for the city to approve such a permit. He and fellow organizers didn’t want to wait and lose the momentum of last week’s peaceful anti-racism protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed when a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Without permission to make the “End Racism Now” message permanent, Brice said he reached out to Fishtown police around 5 p.m. Tuesday, shortly before the painting was to begin. He told them the community was hurting, he said, and he wanted to keep the conversation going. Capt. Fisher could have called off the painting, Brice said, but he gave organizers the OK.
As a few hundred people painted the letters, as well as the names Donta Dawson and David Jones, two local victims of police brutality, police stood nearby, Brice said. At one point, Brice said he approached Capt. Fisher and invited him to take part.
“Matthew 5:9 calls me to a peacemaker, not a peacekeeper,” the pastor said. “I have to be intentional."
Brice said he understands residents’ anger and hurt, but he doesn’t think pushing out the captain or other officers is the solution. He pointed to the Florida police organization that said it would re-hire anyone who fires or resigns due to misconduct.
“That would shift the racism but that does not solve the racism,” Brice said. “Allowing Capt. Fisher to learn, to apologize, to take intentional steps … is what changes the heart of the community.”
— Erin McCarthy and Rob Tornoe
Philly won’t estimate the size of Saturday’s enormous protest crowd
It was clear to anyone there that the protest against police brutality that took place Saturday on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway was enormous.
Thousands of people flooded the space around the Philadelphia Museum of Art, then marched toward City Hall demanding racial justice. Helicopter footage of the crowd spanning the Parkway made national news.
But what’s still not clear is just how many thousands of people there were.
A city spokesperson said officials do not give crowd size estimates for “demonstrations" or First Amendment activities. The Philadelphia Police Department also declined to provide a crowd estimate, referring questions to the administration.
But in 2017 on the day of the first Women’s March after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, a now-former Philadelphia city spokesperson said 50,000 people attended. The figure was widely cited.
Current spokesperson Kelly Cofrancisco said there are differences between organized events, such as the Women’s March demonstrations, and those without permits. She said permitted event organizers often provide the city with their own estimates, and the city didn’t give an estimate for the Eagles Super Bowl parade or annual events like Welcome America.
As for the 50,000 Women’s March figure? “It is likely that the numbers provided came from event organizers,” Cofrancisco said.
— Anna Orso
More protests planned in and around Philadelphia on Wednesday
On what will be the 12th-straight day of protests in and around Philadelphia, several demonstrations are planned near the city Wednesday. They include:
— Rob Tornoe
N.J. corrections officer suspended for apparently mocking George Floyd’s death
A New Jersey corrections officer has been suspended after video was posted online of two men — one kneeling on the other’s neck, apparently mocking the death of George Floyd — at a protest march on Monday in Gloucester County.
The other man involved in the incident was an employee of FedEx, the company confirmed. On Tuesday night, FedEx said in a statement that he no longer worked there because of the video. Earlier in the day the company said the man, who was not identified, had been removed from all work duties and the incident was under internal investigation.
During the march in support of Black Lives Matter, a small group of counterprotesters are seen on the side of the road in Franklin Township with a Trump campaign banner, several American flags and a variation known as the “thin blue line” flag, and a sign that reads: “All Lives Matter.” In a video shared on Instagram, the man kneeling is seen yelling at the protesters as they pass.
— Robert Moran
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