Good morning.
George Floyd was “an ordinary brother” whose death made him the “cornerstone of a movement”, the Rev Al Sharpton told Floyd’s family and the massed crowds of mourners at his funeral service in Houston on Tuesday. With his case being hailed as a landmark moment in the struggle against police brutality and racial prejudice across the US and beyond, Floyd’s brother Rodney predicted: “He is going to change the world.”
As protests continue for a third week without any apparent loss of momentum, Ed Pilkington asks what’s next – and whether changing the national conversation will be enough to change American society. Alex M Johnson suggests ways to help make sure it does:
We are our brother’s and sister’s keeper and each of us has a role in this fight for black lives.
The striking lack of diversity in police union leadership
In 15 large American cities, a majority of police officers are non-white. But only one of them, Memphis, has a police union leader who is black. That’s according to new a study of the vast racial disparity in police union leadership by the Marshall Project.
With police departments under greater scrutiny nationwide, at least two more controversial deaths in police custody have come to light. And legal experts say thousands of protesters detained unnecessarily in New York – for up to 48 hours – have been held in “abysmal” conditions without access to water or facemasks.
Cops has been cancelled. The popular reality show, broadcast by the Paramount Network for 32 seasons, will not return for a 33rd. Its critics said the series glorified police aggression and distorted the public’s perception of crime and justice.
Dr Fauci says ‘we’re still at the beginning’ of the Covid-19 crisis
More than a dozen US states have just had their worst week to date for coronavirus infections, even as lockdown restrictions are being eased across America. And the country’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, says “We’re still at the beginning” of the pandemic. Speaking to a biotechnology conference, Fauci said the Covid-19 crisis was his “worst nightmare”, but added that he was “very heartened” by the progress being made on potential vaccines.
Elsewhere in the world…
The WHO has urged Pakistan to reinstate lockdown measures, with the country’s hospitals straining at their capacity.
The outgoing president of Burundi has died after a sudden illness, believed by many to have been Covid-19.
Families in Milan want their loved ones exhumed from a cemetery in the Italian city after they were mistakenly buried in plots reserved for Covid-19 victims with no known relatives.
Georgia’s pandemic primary election did not go well
With its primary on Tuesday, Georgia faced a test of whether states could safely and successfully hold elections amid the coronavirus pandemic. And by many accounts, it failed that test. New voting equipment malfunctioned across the state, leaving some precincts without a single working machine. And despite the authorities having encouraged voting by mail, many voters were forced to spend hours in line after choosing to cast their ballots in person.
In other news…
English authorities will examine the country’s statues and their links to its racist past, after a monument to an 18th-century slave owner was taken down in London and protesters in Oxford demanded the removal of a statue of colonialist Cecil Rhodes.
Trump has ordered an expansion of the US icebreaker fleet, signaling a more aggressive approach to the contest with Russia and China for resources in the Arctic and Antarctic. The US currently has just two icebreakers, while Russia has 40.
Russia will open nuclear disarmament talks with Washington this month, but the Kremlin has warned that US attempts to include China in the Obama-era New Start treaty could scuttle the negotiations’ chances of success.
Crossfit’s founder has resigned. Greg Glassman quit as the fitness brand’s CEO after a series of offensive tweets and comments about George Floyd’s death and subsequent protests.
Great reads
The woman who has seen Les Mis 977 times
A new documentary, Repeat Attenders, chronicles the obsessions of musical theatre fans who return to see their favourite shows night after night. With theatres dark amid the lockdown, the film takes on a more poignant tone, the director Mark Dooley tells Mark Lawson.
The new class system: Covid-19 immunity
There is so far no conclusive evidence that recovering from the coronavirus confers immunity. But in the absence of a vaccine, those with Covid-19 antibodies may face a lower risk – and thus have greater freedom. Miranda Bryant reports.
I navigated the white world alone
Whitney Bradshaw grew up biracial in a mostly white city, without her black father. After George Floyd’s death, “for the first time in my life, I was happy my dad is in prison”, she writes. “Because he’s safer as an inmate than as a free black body walking the streets.”
Opinion: A re-evaluation of weddings was long overdue
Many thousands of weddings have been postponed or cancelled amid the lockdown. Stephen Marche says it’s an opportunity to reconsider the ridiculous expenses of the modern marriage industry.
The tradition of huge elaborate ceremonies followed by enormous parties, all at vast expense, belongs to the recent past of unparalleled growth. That period is over. It’s time to make some new traditions – vastly, vastly cheaper ones.
Last Thing: the 64,000-turtle aggregation
Researchers in Australia have come up with a new way to count the large green sea turtle population on Raine Island in the Great Barrier Reef, using drone footage. This video is believed to be the biggest sea turtle aggregation ever caught on camera.
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