George Floyd died more than three years ago at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis, igniting nationwide protests against discriminatory policing and spurring a federal investigation into the city’s police force. Today, the Justice Department released its findings in a scathing 89-page report that found systemic abuses by the police in Minneapolis.
The report laid out repeated instances of unlawful discrimination by police officers against Black and Native American people. It described a police force impervious to accountability whose officers beat, shot and detained people without justification and patrolled without the trust of residents.
“The patterns and practices we observed made what happened to George Floyd possible,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
Among the several examples of discrimination contained in the report was an episode in which an officer said his goal was to wipe the Black Lives Matter movement “off the face of the earth.”
“The report was almost uniformly critical, on bedrock issues of policing — discrimination, use of force, First Amendment issues,” my colleague Mitch Smith said. “It found widespread, longstanding patterns of malpractice in these areas that sound a lot like what protesters and residents have been complaining about over the years.”
Here are the most significant findings.
The city agreed to negotiate a court-enforced agreement that, if enacted, would require a sweeping overhaul of its police force. Experts say that, by and large, such agreements have worked to overhaul troubled police departments.
The Pittsburgh synagogue gunman was convicted
Robert Bowers, the gunman who killed 11 worshipers in October 2018 in a Pittsburgh synagogue, was found guilty today of dozens of federal hate crimes and civil rights offenses. The jury convicted him after only five hours of deliberations over two days.
The mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue is considered to be the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. Now the trial will turn to the question of whether Bowers should be sentenced to death.
After 80 years, an apology came for ‘the Philadelphia 15’
In 1940, 15 Black sailors recounted in a letter to a newspaper the abuse and indignities they faced on the U.S.S. Philadelphia because of the color of their skin. They were unable to advance, forced to be servants for the ship’s officers. The men were jailed and kicked out of the Navy for daring to speak out, with discharges that forever labeled them as unfit to serve.
Only today did the group, known as “the Philadelphia 15,” receive a formal apology. In a ceremony at the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes, four surviving family members of two of the men, brothers John and James Ponder, accepted newly issued honorable discharges.
Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, died at 92
Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst who made the momentous decision in 1971 to release what came to be known as the Pentagon Papers, died today at his home in Kensington, Calif. The documents disclosed a secret history of American lies and deceit in Vietnam.
Ellsberg’s leak plunged a nation already divided by the war deeper into angry controversy, led to illegal countermeasures by the Nixon White House and resulted in a crucial Supreme Court decision upholding the freedom of the press.
Read his full obituary, and check out Ellsberg’s own insight about his life’s work.
More top news
Migrants: The authorities in Greece blamed smugglers for a disaster that left hundreds of migrants dead. Critics say the country’s tougher immigration policies are increasing the risks.
Markets: The S&P 500 index secured its fifth consecutive week of gains, its longest winning streak since the fall of 2021.
Washington: President Biden said that he planned to appoint Mandy Cohen, the former North Carolina health secretary, as the next director of the C.D.C.
War: President Vladimir Putin used a speech at a Russian economic forum to play down his country’s isolation. He said Ukraine’s offensive had “no chance.”
Abortion: An attempt to ban abortion in Iowa beyond six weeks of pregnancy failed after the State Supreme Court deadlocked.
Britain: Boris Johnson, who abruptly quit his seat in Parliament last week, will write a weekly column for The Daily Mail.
Sports: Michael Jordan agreed to sell his majority share in the Charlotte Hornets.
Social media: Thousands of Reddit pages have gone dark. Here’s what’s happening.
EVENING WIND DOWN
A Twitch star scores a megadeal
One of the world’s most popular online streamers — Félix Lengyel, who is better known as xQc — announced today that he was joining an upstart platform called Kick in a deal worth as much as $100 million. The move is a significant blow to Twitch, where Lengyel has been among the most popular creators for years.
Lengyel’s deal, which is roughly as large as that of N.B.A. superstar LeBron James, is a sign of Twitch’s increasingly strained relationship with its streamers. This week, the platform altered its policies after complaints that it was more focused on profitability than on keeping its creators happy.
Amazon quadruples down on Judge Judy
When viewership began falling for television hits like “Judge Judy” in recent years, streaming executives at Amazon wondered whether people had gotten tired of the content, or if it was simply an issue of delivery method. So they hired Judge Sheindlin to star in a new court show on their little-known free streaming service, Freevee, to test it out.
Her show, “Judy Justice,” quickly became the platform’s No. 1 offering, prompting the company to go all in on her brand. Sheindlin, who is 80, was given two spinoff shows and a fourth unscripted show that is still under wraps. She also has been able to cast several members of her family, adding to Hollywood’s so-called Nepo-Verse.
Dinner table topics
Tall tales: Recent posts on TikTok are challenging long-established facts about the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, confirming that the video app has become a powerful vector for misinformation.
A special place: A couple bought a tiny cabin on an island in Washington and planned to turn it into their family vacation home. But first, they had to prevent it from sinking into the earth.
National dish: How do certain foods, like pizza, ramen and tapas, become symbols of their places of origin? A new book digs into the histories of some iconic dishes.
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEKEND
Cook: Dad gets what he wants on Sunday, no? Sam Sifton shared his Father’s Day plan: Start with crab toast, then let the possibilities take over.
Watch: Season 3 of “The Righteous Gemstones” kicks off with a quintessential over-the-top episode on Sunday.
Read: Here are six paperbacks to read this week.
Shop: Research products, make grocery lists and book travel using A.I. tools like ChatGPT.
Sanitize: With the right tools and tips, cleaning your toilet is easy.
Work out: Level up your walks by varying your intensity and speed.
Compete: Take this week’s news quiz.
Play: Here are today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. For more, find all our games here.
ONE LAST THING
This prehistoric reptile had talent
Before the dawn of the dinosaurs, the world belonged to pig-size reptiles called rhynchosaurs. They thrived all over the planet, most likely because of their unusual eating method: They used a scissorlike motion to grind tough plants between a row of teeth and bare bone.
But new research suggests that their special talent may have also been their downfall. While the scissor technique worked well when the world was filled with ferns, that may have changed around 225 million years ago, when Earth’s climate shifted and dry conifers took over as the dominant plant. While early plant-eating dinosaurs could handle this extra-tough food, it seems that rhynchosaurs could not.
Have an evolved weekend.
Thanks for reading. We’re off on Monday for Juneteenth. I’ll be back on Tuesday. — Matthew
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