Thursday we celebrated the formation of the Black Panther Party 54 years ago in Oakland, California.

The Black Panther Party clearly showed the willingness of regular people to organize and take action to protect their communities.

Today, we find ourselves still calling for the changes that these brave people were fighting for in the 1960s: community control of the police, reparations paid to African Americans, and social/economic
equality.

• Join the Uhuru Solidarity Movement St. Louis, Green Party of St. Louis and the Committee to Elect Betsey Mitchell as St. Louis County Executive

The formation of the United States was based on white supremacy. This country was built on the backs of enslaved Africans, who were never compensated for the past four hundred plus years of their forced labor and suffering. Exploitation, land-loss, destruction of original identity, genocide, state violence and systemic racism continued in chattel slavery’s aftermath and still haunt the present in manifold ways.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Hundreds gathered in both St. Paul and Minneapolis Thursday to express outrage over the release of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. He is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. A common sentiment among the two groups of protesters was that Chauvin getting out on bond shows the injustice of the court system.

In St. Paul, marchers dragged body bags and carried gravestone-shaped signs marking the dead.

John Keating questions Springfield Police officers standing behind their vehicle about a Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle that was reported to be stationed near a local protest against the decision of a Kentucky grand jury that brought no charges against Louisville police for the killing in March of Breonna Taylor during a drug raid gone wrong. [Ted Schurter/The State Journal-Register]

As about 35 people gathered in front of the Springfield Police Department headquarters, 800 E. Monroe St., for a rally and vigil in support of Breonna Taylor Wednesday night, Trista Ishmael's thoughts drifted back to her bi-racial brother in Jacksonville.

Last week, Arkansas woke up to stories of North Little Rock and Little Rock police vehicles having been burned, and memorials statues to fallen officers had been vandalized with pro-BLM designs. As a result, the Little Rock Chief of Police Keith Humphrey has stated that the LRPD will investigate this crime as a hate crime. While we discourages vandalism of any kind, the Green Party of Pulaski County rejects the label of “hate crime” for three reasons.

The first reason is that the definition of hate crime does not include a work profession. The police cannot be the victim of a hate crime because the police are not “a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity,” which is from the FBI definition of a hate crime and the local ordinance Chief Humphrey cites.

U.S. cops are already racist and brutal, and any militia "infiltrators" would feel right at home.

"Kyle Rittenhouse was acting like the police who shot and severely wounded Jacob Blake."

It is common to see news stories reporting that white supremacists or right wing groups have infiltrated police departments. Such information should always be greeted with skepticism. Law enforcement in this country is very much right wing and inherently white supremacist. There is no infiltration necessary. Any police officers found to be members of the Ku Klux Klan or Proud Boys or any other configuration are outliers only in that they thought it necessary to make their affiliation official.

ROCHESTER, NY – The Green Party of Monroe County is calling for the resignation of Mayor Lovely Warren and Police Chief, La'Ron Singletary. We also insist that City Council dismantle the Rochester Police Department and replace it with an accountable, public safety-oriented entity that does not routinely injure, and sometimes, kill citizens.

After the homicide of Daniel Prude on March 30 by RPD officers, the Mayor and Police Chief, kept the incident quiet as hundreds of residents have been marching in the streets calling for changes to the police department. The public knowledge of this murder only happened due to a lawsuit by Prude's family. If it was not for that legal action we would still not be privy to the video that shows this execution.

• Justice for #JohnNeville

Several North Carolina Green Party members, including Co-chair Tony Ndege, recently-elected Charlotte Area Greens Co-chair Jacob Samuels, past candidates Keenen Altic, Joshua Bradley, Robert Corriher, assistant Sec. Ade Mowry, Troy Winfree of Triad Greens and others have been heavily involved in statewide protest movements against state violence and systemic inequity.

These actions have included:

• Green Party Steering Committee member Trahern Crews holding sign in front of the Minnesota state Capitol to mark Juneteenth by demanding reparations and police reform legislation from state lawmakers.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota's Black Lives Matter chapter took to the state Capitol on Friday to mark Juneteenth with a demand for reparations and real police reform in a continued push for racial justice following the death of George Floyd.

Juneteenth, the traditional commemoration date of the emancipation of enslaved African Americans, has taken on new resonance this year. There have been protests around the U.S. and beyond stemming from Floyd's death after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers.

On Memorial Day 2020 Officer Chauvin, now a former police officer of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), murdered George Floyd in the state of Minnesota where I live. The former officer kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck for eight terrorizing minutes, which ultimately led to the death of Mr Floyd. This event was live streamed by a Minneapolis resident on Facebook where you can hear community members telling the officer to stop because they knew he was killing Mr Floyd. Officer Chauvin and the other officers involved have been fired from the MPD and Officer Chauvin was formally charged with third degree murder.