Minneapolis and the country lauded the guilty verdict against former Officer Derek Chauvin. The city has become a touchstone for what’s next in the movement for racial justice.
TOP STORIES
The Racial Justice Movement’s Next Step
Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland announced that the Justice Department has launched a broad investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department a day after a white former officer was convicted of murdering George Floyd, a Black man, during a police stop last year. The police force has been under growing pressure to reform since Floyd’s death sparked a wave of nationwide protests over racial discrimination in policing, and a broader national conversation around race and justice in the United States.
Still, many wonder whether a verdict against one police officer, rare as it may be, is enough to bring lasting change to law enforcement. “As we breathe in and as we exhale a collective sigh of relief in the name of George Floyd, we ain’t near done,” said Melina Abdullah, a Cal State L.A. professor who co-founded and helps lead Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, during a protest calling for defunding the L.A. Police Department.
Activists and politicians in Minneapolis spent Wednesday raising awareness about a City Council-backed measure that could go before voters this fall calling for the city to create a Department of Public Safety, which would encompass a broader health and social approach to fighting crime.
A similar ballot measure that could go before voters — an effort spearheaded by a coalition of liberal groups and young activists, which gained momentum after Floyd’s death — would also replace the Police Department with a newly created Department of Public Safety. All of this is being considered as three other officers are set to go on trial in August for their involvement in Floyd’s death.
Leadership Change at LAUSD
Austin Beutner will step down as the L.A. Unified School District’s superintendent by June 30, when his three-year contract will end.
His sudden departure announcement comes in the midst of campus reopenings after the COVID-19 pandemic had closed them and his involvement in the hiring of a new general counsel. L.A. Unified also is preparing a ramped-up summer school and an anticipated return to full-time, in-person schooling in the fall, as well as a long-term academic recovery plan.
There is no immediate indication that Beutner was asked to leave, and the board, in its official statement, praised his “unwavering leadership.” But board members also gave no indication that they had offered him a new contract or that they had tried to persuade him to stay on.
Lowest in the Lower 48
California’s coronavirus case rate is now the lowest in the continental U.S., an achievement that reflects months of hard-won progress against the pandemic in the aftermath of the state’s devastating fall and winter surge.
The state’s latest seven-day rate of new cases — 40.3 per 100,000 people — is dramatically lower than the nationwide rate of 135.3 and edged only by Hawaii, 39.1, over the same period, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
California’s headway is reflected in its reopenings, as many parts of the state have recently been able to lift coronavirus-related restrictions. But officials stress that progress isn’t permanent, and that it’s the collective responsibility of residents and businesses to make sure that allowing additional activity doesn’t trigger increases in coronavirus transmission.
More Top Coronavirus Headlines
— President Biden announced new employer tax credits and other steps to encourage hesitant Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine as his administration tried to overcome diminishing demand for the shots.
— One of the largest reports on COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy bolsters evidence that the shots are safe, although the authors say more comprehensive research is needed.
— “I’m fully vaccinated against COVID-19. How long will the protection last?”
For more, sign up for Coronavirus Today, a special edition of The Times’ Health and Science newsletter.
What’s the Best Way to Help?
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter’s order to Los Angeles officials to sweep homeless people off skid row into shelters or housing is grounded in his conviction that a wrongheaded focus on creating permanent housing has perpetuated racism, spread encampments and caused the avoidable deaths of Black people.
But the complexities of the lives of homeless people on skid row suggest that shelters may be, at best, an incomplete and unwelcome solution to the homelessness that has festered in the 50-block district downtown for more than 50 years.
Carter’s injunction, which came in response to a lawsuit by downtown business and development interests, strikes at the heart of a debate that has roiled homelessness policy for decades: whether shelters and enforcement against street camps or permanent housing with counseling and other services can best end the long-running homelessness crisis.
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FROM THE ARCHIVES
The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970. More than 20 million Americans participated in events on school campuses and in their communities to learn about the environment and how to protect it. In Los Angeles, The Times wrote that many of the events focused on decreasing pollution — sometimes with dramatic flair.
Students at Miraleste High School on the Palos Verdes Peninsula arrived via horse instead of driving. Santa Monica High School students wore surgical masks, while those at USC opted for gas masks. Several car engines were buried in protest, The Times wrote.
April 22, 1970: Sixth-grader Brad Frank, 11, wearing a gas mask, joins about 100 classmates during an Earth Day march on Wilshire Boulevard. (George Fry / Los Angeles Times)
CALIFORNIA
— Ten former USC Song Girls described to The Times a toxic culture within the famed collegiate dance team that included longtime former coach Lori Nelson rebuking women publicly for their eating habits, personal appearance and sex lives. Nelson denies the allegations. (This article is a subscriber exclusive.)
— Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency in two Northern California counties as he stood on the dry shoreline of Lake Mendocino. He has been under pressure from some quarters to declare a statewide drought emergency.
— Orange County prosecutors have charged a man with hate crimes in connection with an attack on an elderly Korean couple walking in a park last weekend.
— Police will postpone the release of body camera footage showing the initial moments after officers arrived at a mass shooting in Orange that killed four people last month.
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NATION-WORLD
— Biden will convene leaders from around the world today and Friday for a climate summit as he marks the United States’ return to the global fight against climate change. He also plans to announce that he’s doubling the United States’ original commitment to slashing greenhouse gas emissions.
— Ahead of Saturday’s annual commemoration of the killing of more than a million Armenians a century ago, Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill are pressing Biden to become the first U.S. president to acknowledge the events as genocide.
— An upcoming international peace conference that was meant to push Afghanistan’s warring sides toward a power-sharing deal and ensure an orderly U.S. exit from the country has been postponed, its sponsors said.
— A South Korean court rejected a claim by South Korean sexual slavery victims and their relatives who sought compensation from the Japanese government for their wartime sufferings.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
— In a conversation with filmmaker Ava DuVernay for the L.A. Times Book Club, former President Obama discussed his bestselling memoir “A Promised Land” — and had some advice for young activists: “Be clear and strategic.”
— When Prince died five years ago this week, he left behind one of the richest, deepest and most complicated collections of work that pop music has ever known. L.A. fans are still celebrating his legacy and The Times has ranked all 85 of his singles.
— Publisher W.W. Norton is hitting pause on “Philip Roth: The Biography” in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations made against author Blake Bailey by several women who met him when he was their eighth-grade honors English teacher.
— COVID pushed Cirque du Soleil into bankruptcy protection. Now it’s preparing for a Vegas comeback with shows scheduled to begin this summer.
BUSINESS
— Just when federal help seemed imminent for L.A.’s long-suffering music venues, another disaster emerged: The Small Business Administration website to apply for grants crashed.
— Apple signaled its intentions to remain a major player in podcasting with a subscription platform debuting on its app next month. The new effort allows Apple to start collecting a cut of podcast subscriptions.
SPORTS
— NBA contenders are seeing their best players show up on injury reports with tight tendons and strained muscles, but the Lakers will see the return of forward Anthony Davis tonight. He proclaimed himself “100 percent” after missing the last 30 games with calf and Achilles injuries.
— Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani has elite stuff. Now he just needs to work on his command.
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OPINION
— What does the L.A. Unified School District need at this point? The same thing it’s needed for years, stable leadership, The Times’ editorial board writes.
— Nancy Pelosi’s words about George Floyd sat somewhere between awkward and offensive. But she underscored the fact that Black martyrdom is an all-too-real phenomenon, writes editorial page editor Sewell Chan.
WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING
— From movies to refrigerators, so many of our belongings have moved online in the name of convenience. But we’ve paid a price: We don’t fully own our things anymore. (Vox)
— Philonise Floyd writes on the conviction of the police officer who killed his brother: “This is what justice feels like.” (Washington Post)
ONLY IN L.A.
What will become of the Cinerama Dome movie theater? Most industry insiders expect it to eventually return under new operators after ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres announced it would not reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic. As columnist Patt Morrison explains, it has already survived cliffhangers worthy of Saturday matinee serials. Still, not every movie house in L.A. has been so fortunate.
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