Human Kindness is Overflowing ...

Poll: Majority 'sympathetic' to protesters, disapprove of Trump's response

A majority of Americans both sympathize with the protests that have swept the U.S. since the death of George Floyd and give low marks to President Trump's handling of the demonstrations, a Reuters/Ipsos poll has found.

Read Full Article Here: Zack Budryk, The Hill, 1 hour ago

Defense secretary doesn't support deploying active troops following Trump threat

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday he opposes sending active-duty troops to put down the protests sweeping America in response to the killing of George Floyd, despite President Donald Trump's threat to do so if local governments fail to quell unrest.

"I don't support invoking the Insurrection Act," Esper said in his first public comments since the protests erupted, referring to a statute the president could invoke to deploy active-duty troops to respond to the protests. These measures "should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire situations."

Read Full Story Here: Lara Seligman, Politico, 34 minutes ago

A black man was afraid to walk in his gentrified community. So 75 neighbors walked with him.

Shawn Dromgoole, center, surrounded by his community in Nashville's 12 South neighborhood after

he posted on Facebook and Nextdoor saying he was afraid to walk in the area. (Shawn Dromgoole)

His family has been in the neighborhood, known as 12 South, for 54 years. But Dromgoole said that since he was a child, he felt an unease in his hometown, acutely aware that few people looked like him.

“Growing up in my neighborhood, I could always feel the eyes, the looks, and the cars slowing down as they passed by me,” said Dromgoole, who was recently furloughed from his job at Nordstrom as a logistics processor.

As a young man, Dromgoole watched from his window as the neighborhood gradually gentrified before his eyes: Black families moved out and white families moved in. With each passing year, he felt more and more unwelcome, he said.

Those feelings grew in recent weeks when he heard about Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was out jogging in Georgia when he was shot to death, and then George Floyd, a black man killed while in police custody in Minneapolis.

“What happened to these men could easily happen to me,” said Dromgoole. “I became scared to walk past my porch.”

There were also frequent postings on Nextdoor, an app that connects neighbors, warning residents to look out for “suspicious black men,” he said.

Consumed with fear, Dromgoole took to Facebook and Nextdoor, deciding to finally share his own post.

“Yesterday, I wanted to walk around my neighborhood but the fear of not returning home to my family alive kept me on my front porch,” he wrote.

Unexpectedly, responses from his community started pouring in. Neighbors, none of whom Dromgoole had ever spoken with, asked if they could join him on a walk.

“Neighbor, after neighbor, after neighbor started reaching out, telling me they wanted to walk with me,” he said.

Last Thursday afternoon, Dromgoole notified his neighbors that he was going for a walk at 6 p.m., and anyone who wanted to join him was welcome.

Dromgoole tied his shoes, ventured off his porch and walked to the meeting spot in a nearby parking lot.

There he found 75 people waiting for him.

“I was so overwhelmed, I still can’t find the words,” said Dromgoole. “I never wrote that post thinking people would want to walk with me.”

The group strolled for almost an hour together, with Dromgoole leading the way as his neighbors followed closely behind.

“It was the most amazing feeling,” said Dromgoole. “Everyone was in masks, so you just saw a sea of people, and you couldn’t even tell what color skin they had.”

The walk resonated with the community, too.

“It warmed my heart to see the acceptance that Shawn had,” said Meitra Aycock, 54, the neighborhood association president, who joined the walk. “He could have held a lot of anger in his heart about the way he has historically been treated in our neighborhood. It was very meaningful to see how open he was.”

He wants to take his walks across the nation, starting in Brunswick, Ga., where Arbery was killed; Miami Gardens, Fla., where Trayvon Martin lived before he was fatally shot in 2012; and Cleveland, where Tamir Rice’s life was taken in 2014.

“I finally feel seen,” said Dromgoole. “I feel like I’m a part of something.”

Dromgoole is hopeful that his story will encourage others to walk together, in solidarity and strength.

“Because when you walk with your neighbors — and you know they really see you — the world becomes a better place,” he said.

Story Here: Sydney Page, The Washington Post, 2 hours ago

NC police share images of officers kneeling with protesters, removing gas masks

Protests across North Carolina over the death of 46-year-old George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis have been at times violent as riot officers and demonstrators trade blows with tear gas, rubber bullets, water bottles, and rocks.
But there have been moments of solidarity amid the chaos, images and video shared by police departments show.

In Fayetteville, where Floyd was born, a video viewed thousands of times on social media shows more than 60 officers kneeling before protesters during a demonstration Monday, McClatchy News reported.

“These are moments that will go down into history and will be taught to future generations,” Mimamo Monika posted on Facebook in response.

Full Story Here: The Charlotte Observer