Dozens of Confederate symbols removed in wake of George Floyd's death
13 August 2020
59 Confederate symbols have been removed, relocated or renamed since anti-racism protests began over George Floyd's death, a new Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) report finds.
Why it matters: That's a marked increase on previous years, per the report, which points out just 16 Confederate monuments were affected in 2019.
- Confederate monuments have been a flashpoint of Black Lives Matter protests this year, resulting in statues being torn down by demonstrators or removed by authorities.
By the numbers: Per the SPLC, since Floyd's May 25 death Confederate symbols have been removed from 38 monuments, one flag (Mississippi's) and one emblem that previously featured in a South Dakota community's police uniform.
- Five Confederate monuments have been relocated.
- 14 Confederate symbols have been renamed — eight schools, one college, two parks or trails (in California and Virginia), two roads (in Louisiana and Texas) and one body of water (in Virginia).
The big picture: The SPLC report finds Nearly 1,800 Confederate symbols remain on public land, including 725 monuments.
- The House voted last month remove to Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol building as part of a broader national movement to eliminate symbols of racism and oppression.
- In June, President Trump signed an executive order on Friday to denounce protesters that have vandalized Civil War and World War II monuments, as demonstrators mostly targeted symbols of the Confederacy.
Go deeper:Pentagon effectively bans Confederate flag from military installations
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.