NEW YORK — THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. The owner of the Uncle Ben’s brand of rice says the brand will “evolve” in response to concerns about racial stereotyping. The announcement Wednesday arrived hours after Quaker Oats said it was retiring its Aunt Jemima...
Muslims Join to Demand Police Reforms, Back Black-Led Groups
In the wake of George Floyd's death in police custody, dozens of American Muslim organizations have come together to call for reform to policing practices, and to support black-led organizations. “The victimization of unarmed Black Muslims has a long and troubling history,” said a coalition statement signed by more than 90 civil...
Senate GOP to Restrict Police Chokeholds in Emerging Bill
WASHINGTON — Driven by a rare urgency, Senate Republicans are poised to unveil an extensive package of policing changes that includes new restrictions on police chokeholds and other practices as President Donald Trump signals his support following the mass demonstrations over the deaths of George Floyd and other black Americans. Sen. Tim...
Protests Held Across California for Third Straight Weekend
LOS ANGELES — For the third weekend in a row, protesters took to the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco and other communities across California to demand racial justice in the wake of George Floyd's killing by police in Minneapolis. Sunday's demonstrations were promoted as non-violent calls for change in...
Opinion: The Lilliputian at Lincoln’s Feet
A chilling visual from protests in our nation’s capital was the sight, captured by journalist Martha Raddatz, of what looked like a military occupation of the Lincoln Memorial, with Americans protesting police killings of African-Americans prevented from accessing the hallowed ground of the memorial. The fact that it is a monument...
French Police Stage Banned Demo to Demand Government Support
PARIS — French police defied a ban on mass gatherings to protest what they see as a lack of government support, marching shoulder to shoulder on Friday on the Champs-Elysees to show their anger against new limits on arrest tactics and criticism of racism in their ranks. France this week...
Long Seen as Radical, Black Lives Matter Goes Mainstream
For much of its seven-year existence, the Black Lives Matter movement has been seen by many Americans as a divisive, even radical force. Its very name enraged its foes, who countered with the slogans “Blue Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter." Times have changed — dramatically so — as evidenced...
Protesters Topple Jefferson Davis Statue in Virginia Capital
RICHMOND, Va. — Protesters pulled down a century-old statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in the former capital of the Confederacy, adding it to the list of Old South monuments removed or damaged around the U.S. in the wake of George Floyd's death. The bronze figure on Richmond’s grand Monument...
General Says He Was Wrong to Accompany Trump on Church Walk
WASHINGTON — Army Gen. Mark Milley, the nation's top military officer, said Thursday he was wrong to accompany President Donald Trump on a walk through Lafayette Square that ended in a photo op at a church. He said his presence “created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”...
When Protesters Cry 'Defund the Police,' What Does It Mean?
WASHINGTON — Protesters are pushing to “defund the police" over the death of George Floyd and other black Americans killed by law enforcement. Their chant has become a rallying cry — and a stick for President Donald Trump to use on Democrats as he portrays them as soft on crime....