Officer under investigation for allegedly saying to only target 'anti-Trump' protesters before Capitol riot

DOJ debates using RICO law to charge insurrectionists involved in Capitol riot: report

Sgt. Joshua Zook, right, and Spc. Kenneth Steinly from the 2nd Squadron, 104th Cavalry Regiment, 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Pennsylvania Army National Guard stand guard in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 10, 2021. National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from several states have traveled to Washington to provide support to federal and district authorities leading up to the 59th Presidential Inauguration. (U.S. Army National Guard Photo by Pfc. Sara Ropski)
Matthew Chapman
and
 Raw Story
April 21, 2021

On Wednesday at a congressional hearing with Capitol Police inspector general Michael Bolton, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) revealed that an officer is under investigation for telling units to stand down against the pro-Trump insurrectionists who broke into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Instead, he told them only to target "anti-Trump" demonstrators, according to POLITICO.

"The department's Office of Professional Responsibility found that a radio transmission to 'all outside units' attention' that they should not be 'looking for any pro-Trump in the crowd,' according to Lofgren. She added they were 'only looking for any anti-Trump,'" reported Kyle Cheney. "Bolton said he had yet to review the reports of investigations into the conduct of about three dozen officers on Jan. 6, many of which are ongoing."

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Google This: Algorithmic Oppression

Imagine you've forgotten once again the difference between a gorilla and a chimpanzee, so you do a quick Google image search of “gorilla." But instead of finding images of adorable animals, photos of a Black couple pop up.

Is this just a glitch in the algorithm? Or, is Google an ad company, not an information company, that's replicating the discrimination of the world it operates in? How can this discrimination be addressed and who is accountable for it?

“These platforms are encoded with racism," says UCLA professor and best-selling author of Algorithms of Oppression, Dr. Safiya Noble. “The logic is racist and sexist because it would allow for these kinds of false, misleading, kinds of results to come to the fore…There are unfortunately thousands of examples now of harm that comes from algorithmic discrimination."

On At Liberty this week, Dr. Noble joined us to discuss what she calls “algorithmic oppression," and what needs to be done to end this kind of bias and dismantle systemic racism in software, predictive analytics, search platforms, surveillance systems, and other technologies.

What you can do:
Take the pledge: Systemic Equality Agenda
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