In Harm's Way

The murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, led to a nationwide wave of racial justice demonstrations and the rise of a new type of backlash against them – people using their vehicles as weapons against protesters.

An analysis by The Boston Globe found at least 139 instances of what researchers call vehicle rammings between the date of Floyd’s death and Sept 30, 2021. At least 100 protesters were injured and three were killed when cars hit them.

The Globe confirmed drivers faced charges in only 65 of those incidents, and less than half of them were charged with felonies. The Globe analysis found only four drivers have been convicted of felonies in vehicle rammings, although many cases are pending.

Part I: The car becomes the weapon

Part II: A grisly blueprint of terror

Part II: Putting the law on the driver’s side

Explore the data here.

An unexpectedly close Virginia governor’s race could be an ominous bellwether for Democrats

RICHMOND — Barack Obama was the biggest name in a star-studded lineup of Democrats campaigning for gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe last weekend in a state the party had thought was now an indelible shade of blue.

But the race is tighter than Democrats ever expected, and the former president implored the crowd of about 2,000 people to look at the big picture in a narrowly divided nation.

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After a traumatic journey, Afghan immigrants on humanitarian parole cope with uncertainty

FRISCO, Tex. — As American troops withdrew from Afghanistan and Kabul fell to the Taliban in August, Mina Sediqi, 23, weighed the kind of decision that might come only once in a lifetime.

Her cousin, Saeed Sharifi, had been approved to evacuate to the United States, yet he was only 15 and needed a chaperone. On a frantic, evening phone call, their aunt, Atefa Sharifi, 37, insisted Sediqi accompany him. But Sediqi was hesitating.

Unlike Saeed, who had waited eight desperate years to join Sharifi in Texas, Sediqi had not dreamt of a life outside Kabul. She was enrolled in the Afghan capital’s most prestigious university and treasured spending time with her large, close-knit family.

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Immigrant rights advocates press Biden for action: ‘We want him to fight for us as he said he would fight for us’

WASHINGTON — For more than 15 years, Doris Landaverde has worked as a janitor at Harvard University, cleaning offices, classrooms, and labs, and shoveling snow in the winter. For just as long, she has hoped for permanent residency in the United States,the country she has called home since she left her native El Salvador at 21.

Nothing put her future here more in jeopardy, she said, than when former president Donald Trump began in 2017 to dismantle temporary humanitarian protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, including Salvadorans. Pushed by the fear of deportation, she joined other immigrant activists working to persuade Congress to build permanent pathways to citizenship for people like her who have been kept in immigration limbo for too long.

That battle, to her frustration, did not end with the election of a new president.

On Tuesday, she was among the thousands of immigrants from across the country who marched down the streets of Washington in an effort to sway President Biden to take action on immigration, as his administration has struggled this week to explain its treatment of Haitian asylum seekers in Texas and Democrats appeared poised to strip out avenues to permanent residency and citizenship for millions of immigrants from their massive spending bill.

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Washington once more on alert ahead of rally celebrating Jan. 6 rioters

WASHINGTON — The 7-foot, black metal fences surrounding the US Capitol were back, congressional offices were closed, and Washington on Friday was once more on edge, as law enforcement officials prepared for a gathering of far-right protesters expected on Saturday, just over eight months after a mob of insurrectionists stormed the seat of democracy on Jan. 6.

Organized by a former Trump campaign staffer, Saturday’s “Justice for J6” rally is an attempt to rewrite the history of the violent Capitol attack, casting the more than 600 rioters who face federal charges as “political prisoners” and their anti-democratic desire to steal an election as a noble truth-telling mission.

But unlike on Jan. 6, Donald Trump won’t be there to fan the flames, and no Republican member of Congress has announced they are attending, dampening enthusiasm among potential attendees who are speculating online it could be a trap.

Even so, federal and local law enforcement stressed they would not to be caught unaware this time around, erecting barricades around the Capitol and providing ample security ahead of time.

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Remembering Jan. 6 on the eve of the Sept. 18 rally

There are some who don’t want us to remember. There are some now trying to paint a different picture, spin another narrative.

There are times I still feel guilty I didn’t go all the way down the stairs. We had just rushed out of the Senate press gallery, having been faced with the choice of staying behind locked doors or leaving the room after reports of shots-fired crackled over a US Capitol radio.

Rioters had breached the building and were wandering through the halls of Congress, interrupting the meticulous counting of the electoral votes that would make Joe Biden the next president.

A couple of reporters and I rushed out with no direction in mind but to capture a bit of history, and as we were scrambling down, I caught sight of the first group of stragglers from the corner of my eye.

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On voting rights, Chief Justice Roberts is far from a moderating voice

Rare among the nation’s chief justices, John Roberts has found himself operating often as a swing vote in the middle, turning apparent conservative majorities into gossamer liberal victories on major issues like Obamacare and access to abortion.

To the consternation of the right, the chief justice appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005, a judge with an unblemished conservative resume, has gained an unlikely reputation as a moderating force on a court with a firmly conservative identity, steering it away from decisions with a party-line flavor that would overturn longstanding precedent.

So dramatic has been this shift that it is easy to forget the other John Roberts, whom no one will remember as a moderate.

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Stoking fears of immigrants has been part of the Republican platform for decades. But something is different this time

Donald Trump and the crude, hostile rallying cries against immigrants that powered his rise have vacated the White House — but his message hasn’t gone out of style.

As they gear up for key races in 2022 and 2024, many Republicans have adopted the ex-president’s rhetoric in his absence, stoking racial and ethnic anxieties over immigration and blaming President Biden for what they paint as dystopian and dangerous conditions at the US-Mexico border that they say are threatening the interior.

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‘Unprecedented level of vitriol’: Kamala Harris, embracing No. 2 role, ends up in spotlight’s glare

WASHINGTON — Six months into her barrier-breaking vice presidency, Kamala Harris has doggedly played the part of a trusted lieutenant to Joe Biden, uncomplainingly taking on politically unsavory tasks and subduing any signs of personal political ambition as she touts the president’s agenda.

But despite firmly locating herself in the No. 2 spot, Harris continues to be caught in the harsh glare of the spotlight.

Republican candidates are running ads knocking her, instead of Biden. Since Biden assigned her the task of addressing the “root causes” of migration from Central America, GOP lawmakers have been relentlessly blaming her for the situation at the border. She’s also found herself the target of progressive ire, after repeating the same “stay home” message to migrants Biden has delivered several times before.

“It is an unprecedented level of vitriol,” said Rodney Ellis, a Harris County commissioner and former Texas state senator who is a longtime friend of Harris. “But I am proud of the way she has held her head high.”

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As court’s term ends, liberals wait, hope Breyer will step down soon

The Supreme Court released its final decisions of the term on Thursday with no word from Justice Stephen G. Breyer on whether he would retire from the bench.

Liberals who hoped to hear the 82-year-old justice would step down now and allow President Biden to nominate a replacement while Democrats still hold narrow control of the Senate were instead dealt the blow of two 6-3 opinions on voting rights and campaign finance authored by the court’s conservative wing.

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Pelosi announces select committee to investigate Jan. 6 attack

Nearly six months after insurrectionists, white supremacists, and rioters mobbed the US Capitol on Jan. 6, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday announced she would create a select committee to investigate the attack, as Democrats and even some Republicans in her chamber say there are still many unanswered questions about the events of that day.

“The select committee is about our democracy, about ensuring that the Capitol dome remains a symbol of freedom, about preserving America’s emblem of resilience, determination, and hope,” Pelosi said.

The committee is expected to investigate the role Former President Trump played on Jan. 6 and the security issues that befell the Capitol, as well as how white supremacy and anti-semitism motivated the mob.

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Justice Breyer, under pressure from left to retire, takes the long view

The pressure campaign started months ago. Outside the US Supreme Court in April, a billboard truck with a black-and-white image of 82-year-old Justice Stephen G. Breyer circled the grounds, neon green letters blaring, “Breyer, retire.”

That unsubtle message, paid for by a progressive group, has been adopted by liberal law professors and politicians, fueled further by the renewed threats by Republicans to block President Biden from appointing a Supreme Court justice.

If anyone is built to withstand the pressure, it is Breyer, who has given no indication he plans to retire when the Supreme Court’s term ends in the next few weeks. The senior member of the court’s shrinking liberal minority, Breyer railed against public misperceptions of justices as “junior level politicians” just this past April during a two-hour lecture at Harvard Law School, and has expressed a deep fear that the nation’s highest court could lose public trust if its members are seen to be guided by politics.

Nonetheless, the pragmatic and likable jurist, who has written more than half a dozen books on the preservation of democracy and the rule of law, is faced with the very high stakes and hyperpolitical moment he has long sought to remain above.

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Manchin reveals deep rift over bipartisanship among Democrats

Congressional Democrats are scrambling to find a path forward on ambitious voting rights proposals — and much of the rest of their agenda — after Senator Joe Manchin dug into his longtime position that legislation must include backing from Republicans to earn his vote.

The moderate Democrat from deep-red West Virginia wrote in a recent op-ed that he will only back election bills that gain at least one Republican colleague’s support, and that he will not vote to end the legislative filibuster, which requires Democrats to attract significant Republican support to pass most bills.

At one time, that position used to be a fairly conventional line in the sand. But given the current chasm between the parties, Manchin’s pronouncement could doom much of the Democratic agenda, including a massive infrastructure package and universal preschool, and has exposed tensions among Democrats over what compromising and bipartisanship even mean after the Capitol insurrection and the presidency of Donald Trump.

“If we are going to shut down the Senate and not do anything big between now and the next election, we might as well hand the election over to Republicans,” said Senator Christopher Murphy of Connecticut, a Democrat.

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Swing state Democrats beg for help from Biden as Republicans seek more control over elections

The growing chorus from Democrats in Arizona, Texas, Georgia, and other battleground states has dialed up the pressure on the White House and congressional Democrats to shore up voting rights with federal legislation as state-level Republicans push bills that could make it harder for people of color, poor people, and young people to vote while handing their party more control over the machinery of future elections.

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A man with a chain saw attacked Black Lives Matter protesters in South Texas. Could it spark a conversation about Latinos, race, and racism?

MCALLEN, Texas — Jessenia Herzberg and Lorena Houghton, two idealistic college students outraged over the recent killing of George Floyd and racial injustice, were chanting “Black Lives Matter” with a trickle of protesters as they marched last summer past the quinceañera dress shops and discount stores on Main Street in this sleepy Texas border city.

Suddenly, a blue pickup truck pulled up in front of them. Out sprang a man in a baseball cap, jeans, and work boots.

“Get the [expletive] home,” he furiously shouted at the group of mostly young Latino activists. The man, who also was Latino, hurled a racial slur referring to Floyd, saying the outrage over his murder didn’t “belong here.”

He pointed to the sky. “This is not up there,” he said, his breath catching in exasperation as he apparently gestured toward Minnesota. His arm flew back down, and he wagged a finger in the faces of the protesters. “This is here.”

In this region of South Texas where Donald Trump made massive inroads with Latino voters last November, shattering stubborn notions of this slice of the electorate as a monolithic bloc, both Democrats and Republicans have spent months trying to figure out the roots of the ex-president’s appeal — and whether the GOP will be able to capitalize on it in the future. Political analysts have floated the possibilities that Latino voters were attracted to Trump’s American brand of macho culture or his perceived business acumen or concerns over pandemic-related shutdowns that cost so many of their jobs.

But an under-discussed issue — one that Latina activists like Herzberg, 21, and Houghton, 20, faced head-on last June 5 — flows just under the surface: racism and disapproval of the Black Lives Matter movement among a swath of the Latino community.

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Some bold local police reform efforts follow Floyd’s death, but change at national level remains elusive

Nearly a year after a policeman killed George Floyd outside a convenience store in Minneapolis, sparking a vast social protest movement and calls to radically rethink the role of police in society, a scenic, wooded city in central New York is doing just that.

In March, Ithaca, home to about 30,000 people and Cornell University, approved a plan to replace its 63-officer police force with an entirely new agency bearing a friendly new name seemingly designed to repel all associations to police brutality. By next year, the “Community Solutions and Public Safety Department” could become the first public safety entity in the country largely made up of public servants who will not carry guns. They will answer non-emergency calls — including minor infractions and welfare and mental health checks — while a second group of armed officers will respond to more serious or life-threatening reports.

The new agency won’t be headed by a police chief but a superintendent, who won’t necessarily have to have been in law enforcement to take on the job.

“Ithaca — this is what is coming next in policing,” said Phillip Atiba Goff, a Yale University professor and cofounder of the Center for Police Equity, which worked with the Ithaca mayor’s office, the police department, and community advocates to make it happen.

The effort in Ithaca is one of many examples of states and cities tackling criminal justice reforms and rethinking policing in the year after Floyd’s death, which incited calls in many communities to “defund the police” and what some scholars believe was the largest wave of social justice protests in the history of the United States.

But even as some cities like Ithaca embrace entirely new models of reform, sweeping changes on the national level have been elusive. Some of the most ambitious plans have stalled in state legislatures and in Congress; and some worry that a recent spike in crime rates could lead to a return to old norms and a hesitancy to reimagine public safety going forward.

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Capitol attack: Where will the GOP go after Trump? | Fault Lines

After Trump supporters staged the deadly Capitol attack in January, Republicans chose not to hold Trump accountable for his role in the insurrection.

Indeed, many Republicans have continued Trump’s drumbeat of calling the election’s legitimacy into question. State lawmakers across the country have proposed hundreds of bills this year to limit voting rights, often justifying them with baseless claims of voter fraud. The party has also resisted censuring the most extreme voices within their ranks - like Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Congresswoman who has made racist remarks and spread conspiracy theories, even believing in QAnon. How far will the Republican Party go to embrace right-wing extremism?

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Fleeing death in Guatemala, two Ixil Maya activists hope to continue their defense of indigenous rights from the US — if they can stay

EL PASO — They left their Ixil Maya town deep in the Cuchumatanes mountains of Guatemala just before dawn and without much time to say goodbye.

Francisco Chávez Raymundo, 45, and Gaspar Cobo Corio, 32, had been part of a tight circle of indigenous activists who in the spring of 2013 helped bring a military dictator to trial over the 1982 genocide of the Ixil people, a Mayan ethnic group that became one of the main targets of systematic racism, rape, and forced displacement during the Guatemalan civil war.

But as they continued their work to preserve historical accounts and records of the massacre, and to defend their ancestral lands from the government and the transnational corporations with which it partnered, an authoritarian backlash began to gain momentum. First came the random assaults, then the assassinations.

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Biden calls for sweeping new social programs in first joint address to Congress

WASHINGTON — On the eve of his 100th day in office, President Biden used his first address to Congress on Wednesday to tout the nation’s successful COVID response under his leadership and to urge Americans to back a massive expansion of the social safety net financed by taxes on the wealthy.

“A hundred days ago, America’s house was on fire,” Biden said, adding that “America is on the move again’' and painting a hopeful vision for the future. “We’re vaccinating the nation,” he said. “We’re creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. We’re delivering real results people can see and feel in their own lives.”

But speaking at the site of an armed insurrection, with the Capitol still fenced off to the public, Biden said the work of recovery was far from over. He described democracy as under threat because too many Americans no longer believe the government can work for them. To restore that faith, he called on the public to support fundamental changes to the way the United States supports families and workers, and urged a divided Congress to back his ambitious legislation to create high-paying, blue collar jobs, improve access to education, and protect the environment.

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