Race to the White House: debates begin
Concerns grow as Trump attempts to ban TikTok
pg. 5
Creek wins homecoming game against Brook
pg. 6
pg. 9
Black Lives Matter movements grow as police brutality increases Photo courtesy of Time Magazine
By Fabiola Figueroa Aguyao Sports Editor The Black Lives Matter movement has been revived as more police shootings occur across the country. Thousands of protestors across the United States have flooded the streets, frustrated with the way Black Americans are being treated by the police. George Floyd, Jacob Blake, Breonna Taylor and many other names have been at the center of these protests as many believe that their deaths were unjustified and cruel. This rekindled fire has taken hold of the American public and has been the talking point of many debates, causing tensions between opposing parties. On the streets where people are protesting, scuffles with the police have become a frequent occurrence. This new surge of protests began late on May 26 after the death of Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who was arrested by white police officer Derek Chauvin because of a suspected $20 counterfeit bill. In a now infamous video, Chauvin is seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck after being pinned to the ground, keeping his knee on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. Floyd became unresponsive after six minutes and was sent to the hospital where he later died. The video spread like wildfire on social media and prompted old sentiments of racial injustice and police brutality for many African-Americans. The phrase “I can’t breathe,” the words Floyd repeated to Chauvin before passing, was chanted in the streets of Minneapolis where demonstrations began the next day. The four officers who were present at the time of Floyd’s arrest were fired and later charged but by that point, the movement had already escalated. Only two days after Floyd’s passing, protestors and police came to blows. Surrounding Minneapolis’ third precinct police station, protestors were continuing to chant Floyd’s last words as well as, “No justice, no peace.” Others began to vandalize police cars and graffiti the walls of the police station before police used tear gas, plastic bullets and concussion grenades to subdue the crowds. This event marked a deep divide between police and Americans demanding that justice ensue. The BLM movement has been at the forefront
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
of these rallying demands for change since the protests began, but originally the cause had started years prior to the Minneapolis protests. Created by Opal Tometi, Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza, the movement actually started as a hashtag that was created after George Zimmerman, the man who shot unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin who was walking home from a convenience store, was acquitted in 2013. The hashtag, originally produced by Garza and her friend Cullors, slowly
pinned and shot five times in the chest by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the recorded killing of Philando Castile by police in Minnesota were both catalysts for the hundreds of protests across the states and around the world that would emerge. From Europe to Africa, millions protested in solidarity for the victims of police brutality. The BLM movement became a national organization supported by multiple countries who were inspired by its mantra. France, England,
Photo courtesy of Getty Images but surely gained Brazil, Australia, popularity in the Canada and South following years and spiked every time a police Africa joined in the protests, some asking for shooting resulted in the death of a black person. justice for the victims in the US and others In late June and early August after the deaths chanting the names of victims that hit closer to of Eric Garner, who died of a police chokehold home. Fania Noel, the coordinator of BLM France, and Michael Brown who was fatally shot, protests spoke with BuzzFeed News about the movement began to form under the BLM banner, securing in the US and the differences she saw in France. its role not just as a hashtag but a rallying cry for This global protest would repeat itself again millions. The BLM movement was well known in 2020, even amid a pandemic and seemingly by 2015, as it continued to spread its message of with even more numbers and even more ferocity justice for black people across the United States. in the protests. Particularly in the US, there were 2016 included many tragedies that increased major tensions between police and protestors the racial turmoil in America. Two videos after looting and rioting occurred in the first capturing 37-year-old Alton Sterling being demonstrations in Minneapolis. More protests
Photo courtesy of Harry So
spiked across the nation in Memphis, Tennessee over Floyd and in Louisville, Kentucky, people protested the death of Taylor, an EMT who was shot and killed in her home by police in a botched drug raid. Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia was killed by two white residents while jogging. The protests would continue to spread and police clashings would continue to intensify. Atlanta and New York saw hundreds of protestors walk the streets, some throwing debris at police who reciprocated with arrests, some with violence towards the protestors. Curfews and National Guard troops were installed in multiple cities. In the White House, President Donald Trump criticized the protestors calling them “thugs” and tweeting “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” The country was definitively divided, groups like All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter who defiantly went against the BLM movement, criticized protestors for violently protesting the police. “We wanted to stand up for our police officers…These are everyday New Yorkers who could be your friends, family and neighbors,” Atkins said. Some police officers kneeled with the protestors, including Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, contrasting the many images of violence between the groups. “People are upset, they’re angry, they’re scared, and I get it…. They want to be heard.” Atlanta Police Chief, Erika Shields, said. Even months later, people are continuing to advocate for change. The latest incident to the Floyd story occurred on October 22, regarding the dismissal of the third-degree murder charge against Chauvin. A Hennepin County judge dismissed the charge meaning that Chauvin will only be charged with unintentional second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The motion to dismiss the charges for the three other former police officers, Kueng, Lane and Thao was denied. What comes next for the BLM movement remains unknown but they will surely continue to protest the injustices they see.
2020 Atlantic hurricane season exceeds predictions By Aivry Zamora Assistant Editor
With 26 storms reported this year and more to come, the 2020 hurricane season has already proven to be a record-breaking year in meteorology. This year has endured nearly double the typical amount of storms in a hurricane season, with forecasters already resorting to the Greek alphabet to name future hurricanes. Not only the frequency of these storms but the location in which they are forming has greatly concerned scientists studying hurricane behavior. An average hurricane or tropical storm develops from disturbances that blow off the west coast of Africa but this season, six storms have formed or strengthened in the Frontal or Coastal region between Florida and the Carolinas. “Frontal origins of tropical cyclones are not that unusual, but four times so far this season is unusually often,” Ryan Truchelut, chief meteorologist at WeatherTiger, said. While many of these storms did not make landfall, those that did were highly powerful and destructive. Hurricane Laura, a category four storm that hit the coast of Louisiana, was anticipated with great worry. Reporters called its winds “unsurvivable” and that the storm surge would render some areas “uninhabitable for an extended
period.” Due to the uncertainty that surrounded Laura, many residents of Louisiana, southeastern Texas and the Lake Charles area evacuated their homes in fear of the destruction that Hurricane Laura was expected to bring. Despite having prepared for the worst, only Southern Louisiana was severely affected, leading many to question the National Weather Service’s prediction. “It will look worse than what the actual storm surge will be, and that’s intentional. We don’t know what’s going to happen hours before landfall. [In this case], it shifted north into a different place than what we had forecasted, but it was still in the forecast error,” John Brazzell, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, said. Though many were spared from the destruction of the hurricane, coastal Louisiana was hit with 17.2-foot waters and record-breaking winds that decimated buildings and left many without a home. Residents of the affected area who did not evacuate have expressed that they will never again stay home during a hurricane, while many South Texas inhabitants drove for hours to escape the incoming storm. “Something that you experience one time and don’t do it again,” Kim Eagleson, a Grand Lake Resident, said.
With intense wind, rain and flooding, Hurricane Laura marks the worst storm that the 2020 hurricane season has faced, though recently, Tropical Cyclone Beta has become the ninth named storm to directly hit the United States mainland. This phenomenon has only occurred once before in 1916 on the North Carolina border. Becoming the second storm this year to have been named through the Greek alphabet, Tropical Storm Beta brought heavy rainfall and mild flooding to the Texas coast. “Earlier this season we were asked if we would start using Greek letters for storms, and I told them it was not a matter of ‘if’ but “when” and “how deep into the Greek alphabet we go,” Dennis Feltgen, spokesman and meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, said. Recently, Tropical Storm Epsilon has formed over the Atlantic Ocean making it the fifth storm to be named using the Greek Alphabet and the 26 storm this season, just one storm away from breaking the 2005 record for the most named storms to date. With mild winds and slow movement, Epsilon has not posed a threat but could easily form into a hurricane, as it is predicted to hit landfall in Bermuda by October 21. “Some gradual development of this system is possible late this week while it
moves slowly northwestward or north-northwestward over the western Caribbean Sea,” the official website of the National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center, said. The frequency and severity of these storms is largely due to the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that have heated oceans 32 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 50 years. This gradual buildup of environmental decay has been a known threat for some time but with increasing weather phenomenon’s over the past five years, it has become even more apparent that climate change is a more imminent threat than many have realized. From a meteorological standpoint, 2020 has been ripe with unusual activity such as the annual migration of African dust over the Atlantic earlier in the summer, which was noted as one of the largest such dust clouds in decades. With tropical storm production in high gear, every storm including and after Tropical Storm Eduardo in 2020 has set a record and now having set 26 named storm records, more are set to fall. 2020 has become a year known for its weather phenomena from catastrophic California Wildfires to the continuously destructive major hurricanes faced this season leaving environmentalists curious of the effects this year’s weather will have on the planet’s future.