8 O'Clock Buzz

Jan touches base with Mark Colville, founder of Amistad Catholic Worker house in New Haven and advocate of peace, to talk about the upcoming sentencing of the Kingsbay Plowshares 7 for their civil disobedience to protest Trident submarines and nuclear weapons in the U.S.

Kevin Alexander Gray, activatist, writer, and author of “Waiting for Lightning to Strike: The Fundamentals of Black Politics” shares his insight about oppression, from slavery to changes in militaristic attitudes in the U.S. including increased militarization of city and campus police, “no-knock searches”, and more.

Damita Brown talks with…

* M Adams from Freedom, Inc about humanity, justice and navigating and healing our world.

* Liam Manjon from Free the 350 about the state of our jails and why we need to change them!

Photo by Tipocracia on Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/2j8iWoM

The newspaper the Guardian has documented at least 50 incidents since May 25 where police appear to have targeted journalists covering protests stemming from the death of George Floyd.  One reporter, Guardian correspondent, Linda Tirado, was left permanently blind in one eye after getting hit by a rubber bullet.  Police deliberately fired rubber bullets at a clearly marked CBS television crew and launched tear gas at a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation crew.  There was a time when a press pass guaranteed a reporter safe passage through police lines.  That time is no more.  Lindsey Palmer is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and the author of Becoming the Story: War Correspondents since 9/11 and The Fixers: Local News Workers and the Underground Labor of International Reporting.

Waves of protests have rocked the United States since Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin choked Minneapolis resident George Floyd to death on May 25th. Here in Madison, Floyd’s death reopened old wounds, including echoes of the deaths of Tony Robinson, Paul Heenan, Ashley DiPiazza and Michael Shumacher at the hands of Madison Police between 2012 and 2015.  Fed up with the slow pace and ineffectiveness of promised reforms, a new rallying cry has risen from the crowds in the streets: “defund the police.”  A majority of the Minneapolis City Council recently announced plans to completely dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department.  Now, newly-elected Madison-area politicians are calling for a similar rethinking of the Madison police.  Elena Haasl, who represents District 5 on the Dane County Board, joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on June 15, 2020.

Stan Woodard sits in for Damita Brown to interview Washington Post Fact Checker Glenn Kessler, author of “Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth: The President’s Falsehoods, Misleading Claims and Flat-Out Lies”

Caricature by DonkeyHotey on Flickr

On May 25, four Minneapolis Police officers stopped 46-year old George Floyd on suspicion of passing a counterfeit twenty dollar bill. After Floyd was forced to the ground and handcuffed, Officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck, ignoring Floyd’s complaints that he couldn’t breathe.  While other officers stood by and prevented onlookers from intervening, Chauvin continued to kneel on Floyd’s neck, even after Floyd lost consciousness, for a full eight minutes and forty six seconds.  No officers made any effort to revive Floyd, who died on the scene.  The entire scene was captured on cell phone video, and quickly went viral across the internet.  Floyd’s death at the hands of police has sparked anger across the nation, with all fifty states now embroiled in protest for the past three weeks.  On Monday, June 8, 2020, the 8 O’Clock Buzz spoke with one of the activists at the heart of the turmoil, Monique Cullars-Doty, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Twin Cities.

The Madison Common Council meeting on June 2, reflected the turmoil and urgency that have characterized the year 2020 so far.  Meeting electronically to limit exposure to the COVID-19 virus, Madison’s governing body first took up the issue of whether or not to extend the emergency curfews imposed by Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway.  The mayor had imposed downtown curfews in response to chaos that erupted in the city after peaceful protests against police violence.  The motion to extend the curfew failed on a 9-9 vote, ending the curfews immediately.  Later in the evening, council members also introduced resolutions to make good on a promise years in the making: the establishment of an independent auditor and a civilian oversight board to act as a watchdog, and a check, of the Madison Police Department.  But will the proposed Auditor and Civilian Oversight Board perform as hoped?  Madison Sixth District Alder Marsha Rummel joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on June 8, 2020.

Look closely at the news reports you see regarding the waves of protest and unrest that have gripped the United States since the death of George Floyd three weeks ago.  How does your local paper, television station, radio, website or social media stream describe the events that have taken place?  How do the words they use color your impression of what happened?  Indiana University journalism professor Danielle Kilgo set out to find out exactly how her fellow journalists cover protest events.

Reverend Graylan Hagler, Senior Pastor, Plymouth United Church of Christ (DC), Chairperson of Faith Strategies, labels as “blasphemy” the police assault on demonstrators of change and justice in front of the White House so Trump can hold up a bible as a prop and have a photo op.