Amazon pulls Washington Redskins merchandise from website
08 July 2020
Amazon is removing all products with the Washington Redskins' team name and logo from its stores, effective immediately, CNBC first reported and Axios has confirmed.
Driving the news: The team announced last week that it will review its name after mounting pressure from the public, and after investors and shareholders collectively worth $620 billion asked Nike, FedEx and PepsiCo to cut ties with the Redskins unless the name was changed.
- A source close to the negotiations told Axios' Mike Allen last week that there is "no question" the Washington Redskins are expected to change their name before the first kickoff this fall, scheduled for Sept. 10.
What they're saying: "With the announcement from the Washington team and the NFL, we are removing products with the team's name and logo from our stores," Amazon told sellers on Wednesday, per a company spokesperson.
- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said last Friday that the league was supportive of the team's review of its name.
Background, per the Washington Post: "The origin of the word 'redskin' has long been disputed by linguists, Native American activists who consider it a slur, and those who insist that the name of Washington’s football team honors Indians rather than disparages them."
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.