Geoff Bennett:
The Indian Medical Association has called for a 24-hour withdrawal of services in protest starting Saturday, though they say essential services will still be provided.
Final hurricane preparations are under way in Bermuda as Ernesto churns closer to its coastlines. The Category 2 storm is strengthening as it moves up the Atlantic, packing maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour. Ernesto could drop a foot of rain on the British territory starting Saturday morning.
Meantime, in Puerto Rico, power has yet to be restored to some 250,000 people nearly three days after the storm made landfall there. Another 170,000 are without water. The outages in Puerto Rico have prompted health and safety concerns for the island, where more than 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
A jury in Florida has convicted a white woman in the fatal shooting of a Black neighbor over a dispute related to children playing near her home. The all-white jury found 60-year-old Susan Lorincz guilty of manslaughter after two-and-a-half-hours of deliberation. Lorincz had claimed self-defense when she fired a single shot through her front door in June of last year, killing 35-year-old Ajike “A.J.” Owens. She faces up to 30 years in prison.
President Biden designated the site of an infamous 1908 race riot in Illinois as a national monument today. Mr. Biden was joined by lawmakers and civil rights leaders in the Oval Office as he signed a proclamation making the site federal land. The monument covers more than 1.5 acres and serves as a reminder of the two-day riot by white mobs that resulted in the deaths of several Black residents and destroyed dozens of homes and businesses.
At the White House today, President Biden said it is important to remember such history and that it doesn’t fade away.
Joe Biden, President of the United States: People wanting to erase history, to literally erase history. We’re allowing history to be written, so our children, our grandchildren, everybody understands what happened and what could still happen.
