Prince - Baltimore

Via USA Today:

The promised Prince track about the unrest in Baltimore has dropped on SoundCloud. The serious subject matter is juxtaposed against a bouncy, guitar-based track, recorded at the singer's Paisley Park Studios in Minnesota with a vocal assist from Eryn Allen Kane. The Purple One begins by alluding to the 1992 Ice Cube track It was a Good Day: "Nobody got in nobody's way / So I guess you could say it was a good day." The hook features Allen crooning "Baltimore," while backup singers chant, protest-style, "If there ain't no justice, then there ain't no peace." The song ends with a radio announcer breaking in to announce the 1992 Los Angeles riots (the anniversary of which just passed), making the listener wonder if things have changed at all over the last 23 years.

BREAKING: Maryland DA Charges Six Cops In Custody Death Of Freddie Gray

Charges include second-degree murder, manslaughter, assault, and police misconduct.

Tweet Of The Day

Baltimore Protests Spread To Manhattan

Via AM New York:

Several hundred vocal demonstrators marched through Manhattan streets Wednesday night to protest the death of a Baltimore man in police custody that has sparked widespread riots and looting across Maryland’s largest city. Police said dozens were arrested throughout the evening in Manhattan after they resisted officers trying to keep them on sidewalks and off streets clogged with rush-hour traffic. A demonstration that began peacefully in Union Square at about 6 p.m. with signs and demands for an end to police brutality got increasingly aggressive as the sun set and more people joined the protest. “Our streets,” the protesters shouted at NYPD officers trying to contain them. Demonstrators said the death of Freddie Gray, 25, after his arrest by Baltimore police April 19 led them to take to Manhattan streets Wednesday night.

Hillary Calls For Police Body Cameras

Baltimore To See Pro Baseball First

It's believed that this is a first for major league baseball:

"After consultation with Major League Baseball and city and local officials, tomorrow's game between the Orioles and Chicago White Sox will be closed to the public," the team said in a statement. "The Orioles will also play their three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays, scheduled for May 1-3, at Tropicana Field in Florida, while serving as the home team." The announcement came one day after Orioles executive John Angelos, the son of team owner Peter Angelos, responded to criticism of the protestors with a lengthy statement that pointed towards "a far bigger picture for poor Americans in Baltimore and everywhere…living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state."

Hillary Reacts To Baltimore Riots

BALTIMORE: Governor Declares State Of Emergency, Calls Out National Guard

Via ABC News:

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency today following a violent gathering in Baltimore, where people threw objects at police, set cars on fire and looted businesses. Hogan also activated the National Guard. The standoff began near the Mondawmin Mall in the northwest part of the city, the Baltimore Police Department said, as the group threw bricks, rocks and other objects at officers. Protesters were seen climbing on a police cruiser and damaging several others. Police tweeted that people were also looting businesses and setting cars on fire. One of the looted businesses was a CVS Pharmacy, but a spokesman for CVS said the store was closed earlier in the day out of an abundance of caution so no customers or employees were there at the time. Tonight's baseball game in Baltimore between the Orioles and the White Sox has been postponed in the wake of the violence, the team said.

In the past hour CNN cameras were rolling when rioters slashed water hoses as firefighters worked to extinguish blazing businesses.

Ferguson Police Chief To Resign

President Obama Speaks At Selma, Gives Nod To Battle For LGBT Rights

Via the New York Times:

In an address at the scene of what became known as “Bloody Sunday,” Mr. Obama rejected the notion that race relations have not improved since then, despite the string of police shootings that have provoked demonstrations. “What happened in Ferguson may not be unique,” he said, “but it’s no longer endemic. It’s no longer sanctioned by law or custom, and before the civil rights movement, it most surely was.” But the president also rejected the notion that racism has been defeated. “We don’t need the Ferguson report to know that’s not true,” he said. “We just need to open our eyes and our ears and our hearts to know that this nation’s racial history still casts its long shadow upon us. We know the march is not yet over; we know the race is not yet won. We know reaching that blessed destination where we are judged by the content of our character requires admitting as much.”

And of course he mentioned LGBT rights.

On the 50th anniversary of the march, Obama honored the protesters by saying, “Because of what they did, the doors of opportunity swung open not just for African-Americans, but for every American. Women marched through those doors. Latinos marched through those doors. Asian-Americans, gay Americans, and Americans with disabilities came through those doors. Their endeavors gave the entire South the chance to rise again, not by reasserting the past, but by transcending the past.”

He further noted, “We do a disservice to the cause of justice by intimating that bias and discrimination are immutable, or that racial division is inherent to America. If you think nothing’s changed in the past 50 years, ask somebody who lived through the Selma or Chicago or L.A. of the ’50s. Ask the female CEO who once might have been assigned to the secretarial pool if nothing’s changed. Ask your gay friend if it’s easier to be out and proud in America now than it was 30 years ago. To deny this progress — our progress — would be to rob us of our own agency; our responsibility to do what we can to make America better.”

Pussy Riot - I Can't Breathe

From their clip description:

Pussy Riot's first song in English is dedicated to Eric Garner and the words he repeated eleven times before his death. This song is for Eric and for all those from Russia to America and around the globe who suffer from state terror - killed, choked, perished because of war and state sponsored violence of all kinds - for political prisoners and those on the streets fighting for change. We stand in solidarity. Pussy Riot's Masha and Nadya are being buried alive in the Russian riot police uniforms that are worn during the violent clashes of police and the protesters fighting for change in Russia. A pack of "Russian Spring" brand cigarettes is on the ground at the beginning. "Russian Spring" is a term used by those who are in love with Russia's aggressive militant actions in Ukraine, and the cigarettes are a real thing.

Quote Of The Day - Barack Obama

"There's no black male my age who's a professional who hasn't come out of a restaurant and is waiting for their car and somebody didn't hand them their car keys. It's one thing for me to be mistaken for a waiter at a gala. It's another thing for my son to be mistaken for a robber and to be handcuffed, or worse, if he happens to be walking down the street and is dressed the way teenagers dress." - Barack Obama, in a People interview that hits the newsstands on Friday.

Time Lapse: NYC Civil Rights Protest March

Via Time Magazine:

Thousands of people took to the streets of New York City on Saturday to demonstrate against police violence in the wake of several deadly confrontations this year between officers and unarmed black citizens. This time-lapse video, made at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 29th Street in Manhattan, shows demonstrators marching over a 90-minute period. Authorities estimated that more than 25,000 people marched in New York on Saturday, police told the New York Times, while thousands more held a similar protest in Washington, D.C.

Jon Stewart On Eric Garner

Via Gothamist:

Sharing the same outrage that many felt after an NYPD officer was not indicted for choking Eric Garner to death, a disgusted Jon Stewart appeared on The Daily Show last night. He said, "I honestly don't know what to say. If comedy is tragedy plus time, I need more fucking time. But I would really settle for less fucking tragedy to be honest with you." He also pointed out there's video with Garner's death, whereas with Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri, there were conflicting witness accounts and forensics, "None of the ambiguities of the Ferguson case exist here in the Staten Island case... the guy's not acting threatening, and we know that not through witness testimony, unreliable bystanders, but because we are fucking watching it."

UPDATE: The clip has been pulled. Watch it here.

Sen. Rand Paul Blames Cigarette Taxes For The Death Of Eric Garner

(Via Igor Volsky at Think Progress)

Open Thread Thursday

Have you ever been arrested during a protest? How were you treated? Did the record of that arrest affect you in the future?

Tomorrow's New York Daily News

Eric Holder To Launch Justice Department Probe Into Death Of Eric Garner

Via The Hill:

Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday night that the federal government is launching a civil rights investigation into the chokehold death of Eric Garner, a black man who was killed by a white police officer in July. A New York grand jury decided earlier in the day that it would not charge the officer. “Our prosecutors will conduct an independent, thorough, fair and expeditious investigation,” the outgoing attorney general said. The Justice Department had been monitoring the case since Garner was killed in July, Holder noted, but waited to initiate a probe until the local investigation concluded. Federal investigators will also review the material used by local law enforcement in the case. Holder said that he had spoken to Garner’s widow, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, and President Obama about the investigation. A statement from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) indicated that Loretta Lynch, Obama’s nominee to replace Holder and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, would lead the probe.

Obama Reacts To Garner Decision

De Blasio Urges Calm As Protests Over Garner Decision Are Planned Citywide

From his press release:

“Today’s outcome is one that many in our city did not want. Yet New York City owns a proud and powerful tradition of expressing ourselves through non-violent protest. We trust that those unhappy with today’s grand jury decision will make their views known in the same peaceful, constructive way. We all agree that demonstrations and free speech are valuable contributions to debate, and that violence and disorder are not only wrong – but hurt the critically important goals we are trying to achieve together. The grand jury is but one part of the process. There will still be an NYPD internal investigation. And we know the US Attorney is continuing her investigation. Should the federal government choose to act, we stand ready to cooperate."

Protests will take place tonight in Times Square, Union Square, and other areas with more planned for tomorrow. De Blasio has elected to skip tonight's tree lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center where the police presence has been "significantly strengthened."

UPDATE: A die-in is underway at Grand Central.