What A Day - Black Trans Lives Matter

Episode Date: June 15, 2020

Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed by a white officer in Atlanta this weekend, in another horrific instance of police violence. Atlanta’s police chief subsequently announced she would step down and the officer who shot Brooks was fired. Tens of thousands of people protested violence against Black trans people this weekend in cities across America. These protests came just as the Trump administration moved to revoke discrimination protections for trans people in health care and health insurance. And in headlines: an update on COVID-19 in the US and around the world, African nations call on the UN to address racism and police brutality, and FKA Lady Antebellum just can’t get it right.Follow and donate to groups working to protect black trans people:The Okra Project pays Black trans chefs to go into the homes of Black trans people to cook them a healthy and home-cooked meal: theokraproject.comBlack and Pink is an LGBTQ prison abolitionist organization working to support LGBTQ and HIV positive prisoners: blackandpink.orgThe Marsha P. Johnson Institute protects and defends the human rights of Black trans people through organizing and advocacy: marshap.orgFind more: actblue.com/donate/black_led_lgbtqSupport our sponsors:60 in 6 available on Quibi: link.quibi.com/60in6

It's Monday, June 15th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What A Day, where we don't feel like ourselves anymore unless we have our face masks on. It's true. I wear it in the shower. I'm basically a never-nude now because of this face mask. It's glued to my body at this point. On today's show, protests continue and violence against the black trans community comes into focus. Then some headlines. But first, the latest.

I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force and have called for the immediate termination of the officer. That was Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms this weekend following yet another instance of a white police officer shooting and killing a black man. His name was Rayshard Brooks. He was 27. Bottoms also announced that Atlanta's police chief would be voluntarily stepping down. On Sunday, the officer who shot Brooks was fired. A local district attorney said there could be charges as soon as this week, but let's start with what we know about what happened here. Yeah, so this is slowly coming into focus over the weekend from videos and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. But what we know is that Brooks had fallen asleep in his car at a Wendy's drive through in Atlanta on Friday night when officers were called and arrived at the scene. After

officers arrived, Brooks pulled into a parking space to get out of the way of other cars, and he was asked to take a breathalyzer test. He said to the officers that he'd been drinking to celebrate his daughter's birthday and asked if he could just leave his car there and walk to his sister's place nearby. But after the breathalyzer test, one of the officers tried to arrest him, and in the process of handcuffing, Brooks resisted. He and the two officers ended up on the ground, and one of the officers told Brooks that he was going to tase him. So in the struggle, it appears that Brooks ended up taking one of their tasers, breaking free from them, and then running away in the opposite direction. He then appeared to aim the taser back at one of the officers.

And that's when the officer switched from holding and aiming his own taser to holding and aiming a gun and firing it at Brooks as he ran away. Brooks was shot in the back and then taken to the hospital where he died after surgery. It's just devastating. A lot of people online were saying that his daughter's birthday was just the following day and he was not there for it. But almost immediately, you know, residents came out to condemn the officer's use of force and the murder. That's right. So we saw protests shutting down traffic, and the Wendy's there was set on fire on Saturday night. Here's a clip from one protester interviewed by 11 Alive, which is a local Atlanta station. shot three times. He deserves to be here right now. I don't want to hear about your fear for your life. He took a taser. You can go to Walmart and Target. You can ask him to buy a taser.

That wasn't a deadly weapon. That man did not want to hurt that police officer. He was trying to get away. He should not have been shot three times. And this message to Keisha Lance Bottoms, you do not win your election by a landslide. I think you won about 700 plus votes. If you don't arrest the officer by Monday, you will be voted out. You will be voted out. Yeah. So in case it's difficult to hear over the background sound there, he's saying that Brooks was running away and should not have been shot. And he also called on Atlanta's mayor to take action or be voted out. Yeah. And it just sort of highlights, I mean, this whole situation that like all of these police departments are under a microscope right now and it's still happening.

Like there is video footage. People are protesting in the streets. It's the biggest conversation that any of us are having right now. And they're still killing people. But look, all right. So as we know, the officer has been fired. Mayor Bottoms has accepted the resignation of her police chief and is now looking for a replacement. This is only the latest event that's really thrust Bottoms into the national spotlight since all of these protests began. Yeah, so I mean, she's dealing with a lot of stuff within the city and outside of the city and is now reportedly in contention as a possible VP pick for Joe Biden. Well, it seems like a lot

of that decision would probably ride on how this goes, right? It definitely could. Yeah. And overall, in the midst of all this pressure, Bott? It definitely could. Yeah. And overall, in the midst of all this pressure, Bottoms has gotten a lot of praise for her response to the protests, but she's also gotten increased scrutiny for this kind of police violence that takes place in Atlanta. And there was another recent example on May 30th of two black college students being tased and violently pulled from their car during protests in Atlanta. And in that instance, at least four officers involved were fired and faced charges from their car during protests in Atlanta. And in that instance, at least four officers involved were fired and faced charges from the district attorney. And overall, despite Bottom's swift condemnations of these police officers

and police violence overall, she hasn't yet agreed to defunding or changing Atlanta's budget for the police department. And as we know, that's been a major demand of a lot of protesters. So according to the local NPR station, Atlanta is going to adopt a budget this month for the next fiscal year. And money to police makes up about a third of the city's general fund. And at this point, Bottom said that she doesn't plan to cut that, but she is diverting resources from the Department of Corrections to social services. So we'll continue to follow the developments out of Atlanta pertaining to the police, the budget, this investigation. But moving on, peaceful protesters are continuing

to gather across the nation to speak out against police brutality and racism. And they're still big and largely joyous, which doesn't always fit into a neat package for cable coverage. But the gatherings and demands are still vital. So Akilah, let's start with explaining some of the massive crowds in New York yesterday. All right. So yesterday in Brooklyn and in several other big cities, people came out in droves, like tens of thousands of people wearing white to protest violence against trans people. Just last week, two black trans women were killed.

Dominique Remy Fells of Philadelphia and Rhea Milton of Liberty Township, Ohio. In the initial reporting of their deaths, both police departments misgendered the women. And that in itself is violent and perpetuates the kind of bigotry that often leads to the senseless murders of trans people. You'll remember that last month, Tony McDade, a black trans man, was killed by police in Tallahassee, Florida, and Nina Pop, a black trans woman, was stabbed to death in Missouri. This is a really terrible problem, and it's very real. You know, it's not just police violence, but it's also violence in general towards Black trans people. Yeah, and that's absolutely right. And these protests are also coming just as the Trump

administration says they're going to revoke discrimination protections for trans people in health care and health insurance. Yeah, it's absolutely just like outrageous. So here's a quick explanation. Under this new rule, which is going to go into effect in August, a trans man, for example, could be charged more for a hysterectomy than a cis woman or insurers could just decide not to cover it at all. The rule was announced last Friday on the fourth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting, no less. Vile just doesn't really begin to cover it at this point with this administration. And that's why we march. And that's why we vote. Yeah. And I was led to believe this whole time that Trump was the most pro LGBTQ Republican in recent memory. Definitely want you to believe that.

Yeah. But in addition to these protests, more have arisen due to two inexplicable deaths of black men in Southern California. What's the situation there? This has just been such a difficult month already, and that's putting it very, very lightly. On June 10th, Robert Fuller, a young black man, was found hanging from a tree in Palmdale, California, just north of LA. In the year 2020, a black man was found hanging from a tree just a few feet away from a public city hall in California. And the city hastily ruled the death an alleged suicide until pressure from Black Lives Matter activists, celebrities, and the public forced them to abandon that stance. They now claim that they fully support an investigation. So I guess time will tell if we actually get to see the results of an

investigation. But it's just amazing that the police don't really want to do their jobs unless we're forcing them to. And, you know, just two weeks earlier on May 31st, another black man, Malcolm Harsh, was found hanging from a tree in Victorville, California, just 50 miles away from that. So, you know, his family is concerned because the police are saying it was a suicide in that case as well. And people are out protesting because it's terrible. It's all so overwhelming and shocking, to say the least. The truth is, I don't really know what to say anymore. I don't think there's really much else we can say. We're just watching what's happening. But look, Black Lives Matter, Trans Lives Matter. If you can donate, please look into the Marsha P.

Johnson Institute, the OCRA Project, and blackandpink.org. We're going to put links to all three of those in our show notes, along with other resources. It's Monday, WOD Squad. I am back, and it is time for a tip check. That's for Akilah being back. Over the weekend, Beyonce posted an open letter to the Attorney General of Kentucky demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old EMT who was shot and killed by police executing a no-knock warrant on the wrong house while she was sleeping. Last week, Louisville passed Breonna's law to ban no-knock warrants, and yet over three months later,

the Louisville police officers who killed her haven't been charged or fired. Beyoncé called for action on this with the final line of her letter reading, quote, the next months cannot look like the last three. So, Akilah, your reaction to this? I mean, one, Beyoncé is my queen. She is literally the flag on my Animal Crossing island.

I think that it's so important coming from her. You know, obviously, Beyonce is not somebody who can be ignored. And she also doesn't write a lot of letters. Like, she is not a person who does a lot of interviews. She doesn't have a lot of, you know, what she has to say outside of her music just in the ether. And so the fact that she took the time to do this is really important. You know, the attorney general in Kentucky has never been more relevant. I feel like he is constantly being dragged through the mud and he also like needs to address this.

And so I love it. I think that celebrities could maybe learn a thing from Beyonce always, but especially now. Right. Yeah. And I think for people that are continuing to learn about these stories and continuing to get more details about these things every day. This is inviting more people into understanding what's going on. If you weren't necessarily 100% keyed in, now you have this flashing right in front of your face, and it's another opportunity to get engaged and to think about this and to maybe write your own letter. Yeah, it's great. Yeah. Well, Giddy, I mean, did you see anybody else doing some cool stuff, starting some foundations, writing letters,

not making videos where they're like, I'm white and I was racist once and black and white way too dramatically ruining everybody's time when it's already a shitty time? I did see the video that you're speaking of, Aaron Paul. God bless you, sir.

But it was too much for me. Right. I don't think I saw anything on this level, but I mean, I do think that the collective understanding that some of these larger stars are reaching and the way that they're using their platform about these things is important. I mean, I use this as an example,

not because I'm a swift head or I'm like lauding her for doing what she's doing, but the fact that a person of that caliber is talking about taking racist monuments down in her state is just another little thing. Oh, you're talking about T Swift. Yes. The one and only. T Swizzler. Yes. Got it. The idea that you could have people being that keyed in and not worried about the consequences that they could face from either fans or the broader network of people that follow them and just saying declaratively like this is what it

is I think marks an important moment and a lot of people are trying to put that foot forward some more successfully than others but I think the more that you can draw people in and help everybody reach a collective understanding and maybe incite them to actually take action is seems like a good thing that's what's up you know i think that you're spot on well just like that we have checked our temperatures we're feeling good you're feeling good yeah good all right well we will check in with all of you again tomorrow stay safe where you are and uh hopefully there's no more bad videos coming our way. And now for some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. as widespread poverty and a poor healthcare system made it harder to contain the outbreak. It's now the second worst in the region, right behind Brazil.

Then in China, 57 new cases were reported over the weekend, which is the highest number the country has seen in the past two months. Contact tracing has revealed that the outbreak originated at a food market that supplies 90% of Beijing's produce. That market, as well as several others, has been promptly shut down. In domestic COVID-19 news, results of state reopenings are becoming clearer, and they are still pretty concerning. On Saturday, Florida saw its largest single-day increase in cases since the pandemic began.

The state started gradually reopening in early May, if you remember. The total number of cases in Arizona tripled over the last two weeks. More widespread testing might partially account for more positive tests, but that's not all that's going on here. The percentage of cases that are positive has gone up in Arizona and Florida, too, indicating that COVID-19 is becoming more widespread. In Oregon, where a spike in cases was also observed this week, Governor Kate Brown will pause all reopenings for seven days and then decide whether it's safe to resume, which is kind of like putting one drop of weed killer on your lawn and checking the next day to see if it's all flowers. Oh, bleak. It's not. That's the answer.

It won't be. Just wear a mask, please. All 54 countries in Africa have called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to host a forum on racism and police brutality. A letter written on behalf of the countries asked the council to discuss racist human rights violations, police brutality against people of African descent, and violence against peaceful protesters. This all comes after George Floyd's family, Breonna Taylor's family, Philando Castile's family, and other victims of police violence, plus more than 600 non-profits have called on the council to address these issues over the past week. The Human Rights Council only considers requests if at least one country backs it, and over 50 countries are backing this one.

If the request is accepted, the debate will most likely take place next week. Lady Antebellum, the country group that picked up one book last week and realized their name might be bad, should probably start brainstorming names again. After the group rebranded as Lady A, reporters at Rolling Stone pointed out that their new name was already being used by a blues singer in Seattle who's been performing and recording albums for the past 20 years, something FKA Lady Antebellum would have

known if they had taken five seconds to do a Google search before rolling out a full PR campaign and a website. The band thought, hey, what's the best way to apologize for ignoring black people for 14 years and decided, oh yeah, let's just continue ignoring black people and ignore this black person again. The original Lady A isn't happy that the group stole her name and says it's proof that their apology was an empty gesture. Lady Antebellum says they've reached out to the Seattle singer to work things out, which I guess means they want to pay her to steal the name. I don't know. It's 2020 and white people are out here colonizing band names. I don't know what to do. Lady, absolutely not. Yeah, lazy Annabelle. Anyway, those are the headlines. One more thing before we go, in case you missed it, Crooked has a new must listen to podcast. It

is called Unholier Than Thou. It's hosted by my buddy and award winning journalist Philip McCarty, the former editor in chief of Out Magazine. It's all about faith and the role it plays in people's personal, political, and professional lives. In the first episode, Philip talks to his fiance, who's also an emergency room doctor, about being on the front lines of the pandemic and everyday miracles. It's a really beautiful conversation. I think you're really going to enjoy it. It is definitely worth taking time to take it in. You can find Unholier Than Thou on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, hire us to weed your lawns, and tell your friends to listen.

And if you're into reading and not just letters from Beyonce like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And listen to Seattle's Lady A. I'm sure she's great, and I'm sure that, you know, she deserves our support more than the other one.

Yeah, she's rocking it, and she had it first, so leave her alone. What a day is a product of Cricut Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milsteinstein and our senior producer is Katie Long Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kshaka