Skip to main content

Dispatches From the Culture Wars - The New National Consensus

The George Floyd murder is turning society inside out

Pulled Over,art by Woodrow White

Who Supports, Who Opposes

June 4, 2020
TRT World

Much of the Democratic Party’s establishment, some Republicans, mainstream American media and some powerful US brands like Netflix, Google, Microsoft and Twitter have publicly expressed support for the largely peaceful protests. 

The Public Consensus

By Geoffrey Skelley
June 5, 2020
FiveThirtyEight

An overwhelming majority of Americans say Floyd’s death was wrong and the police officers involved should be held accountable. Americans had mixed views on what has happened during the protests.

Small Towns Respond 

If you like this article, please sign up for Snapshot, Portside's daily summary.

(One summary e-mail a day, you can change anytime, and Portside is always free.)

Broadest Protest Ever

By Lara Putnam, Erica Chenoweth and Jeremy Pressman 
June 6, 2020
Washington Post

"This Time Feels Different"

By Anne Helen Petersen
June 3, 2020
Buzzfeed News

Inside the Police Culture

By Tom Nolan
June 2, 2020
The Conversation

The police have deployed a militarized response to what they accurately or inaccurately believe to be a threat to public order, private property, and their own safety. 

Residents Give Protesters Shelter

By Eoin Higgins
June 2, 2020
Common Dreams

City residents in Washington, D.C. opened their doors to protesters—mostly teenagers—fleeing police, keeping the demonstrators safe until curfew lifted.

The Armor of God

By Matthew Teague
June 3, 2020
The Guardian

People once concerned with piety now crave “an exercise in pure political power”, and the Bible is no longer a spiritual weapon but an earthly one.

Reporters Targeted By Police

By David Smith
June 8, 2020
The Guardian

Many campaigners find the situation impossible to divorce from Trump’s sustained contempt for the media.

“Playing Favorites”

By David Mack
June 5, 2020
Buzzfeed News

A viral video showed an officer telling a group of armed white men protecting a store to avoid being arrested for violating a curfew so officers "don't look like [they're] playing favorites." The video has prompted a public apology from the chief of police in Salem, Oregon.

The White House Wall

By Kelsey Proud, Julie Strupp, Jenny Gathright, and Nathan Diller
June 7, 2020
DCist

While the closest the public can get to the White House is about 600 feet away, the fence around the people’s house is again being reclaimed by the people. The line between protest sign and art is up to the beholder, but plenty of both now adorn the fence’s exterior face.

NFL Turns Around On Racism

By Joel Anderson
June 7, 2020
Slate

The new stance comes from the very same place as the league’s previous prohibition of peaceful protests during the anthem: a morally bankrupt commitment to shifting with the winds of what its white fans find acceptable.