U.K. Schools Pressure; Atlanta Clears Encampment: Protest Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- The University of Oxford is facing renewed pressure as it remains locked in a battle with anti-racism campaigners over a limestone statue on its grounds of British colonialist and alumnus Cecil Rhodes, which has become symbolic of Oxford’s historical ties to colonialism -- and a failure to reflect the diversity of today’s U.K. Elsewhere in the country City, University of London is dropping Sir John Cass’s name from its business school due to his ties to the slave trade.

President Donald Trump said he opposes renaming the NFL’s Washington Redskins despite calls to change what many view as an offensive reference to Native Americans. Trump’s decision to weigh in on the debate over National Football League and Major League Baseball team names is the latest example of him inflaming racial tensions as he faces sinking poll numbers over his handling of protests against police brutality and the coronavirus pandemic.

Nascar’s only Black driver, Bubba Wallace, criticized what he said was “hate” coming from the president’s Twitter account. “Love should come naturally as people are TAUGHT to hate. Even when it’s HATE from the POTUS,” he wrote. Trump had suggested that Wallace, should apologize for a “hoax” after a rope tied into a noose shape was found in his garage at an Alabama racetrack, and again criticized Nascar for banning the Confederate flag at races.

Atlanta police cleared protesters who had encamped at the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was killed last month, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. They’d demanded police reform and a memorial to Brooks, and refused to go until those were met. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp will also send as many as 1,000 National Guard troops to help Atlanta police control violence after a shooting over the weekend left an 8-year-old girl dead, the newspaper reported.

Amy Cooper, the former head of Franklin-Templeton’s insurance investment portfolio, was charged in New York Monday with filing a false police report. Cooper, who is White, was fired after a viral video surfaced of her calling the police and claiming a Black man, who was watching birds, had threatened her after a dispute over her walking her dog without a leash in Central Park. The May 25 encounter was captured on video and posted to Facebook. Franklin-Templeton’s Chief Executive Officer Jenny Johnson said the firm had zero tolerance for racism and that the facts in Cooper’s case were “undisputed.” The altercation occurred the same week as the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, in Minneapolis police custody.

Key Developments:

• RBC Aims for 30% Minority Executives, Sets Targets for New Hires
• Black Canadians Use Gender Playbook in Fight for Equality
• Disney Teams With Kaepernick in Ex-NFL Star’s Latest Media Deal
• Barclays CEO Urged to Confront Slavery and Act on Climate
• First Black Fed President Warns of Systemic Racism’s Economic Toll
• How Reparations Fit New Racial Justice Push: QuickTake

More from Bloomberg QuickTake:

One of two protesters hit by a car in Seattle has died and the other was seriously injured. The driver was stopped and detained and faces a bail hearing today, the Huffington Post reported.

Armed protesters rally against the Confederate monument on Georgia’s Stone Mountain:

Protesters in Baltimore topple statue of Christopher Columbus:

President Donald Trump decries the “radical left” in Washington:

A monument in Paris draws activists:

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