Over the past week, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) has disregarded the right of the people to petition their government for change and brutalized peaceful protesters asking for justice for the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. But this comes to no surprise to us -- the CMPD used teargas, a chemical agent banned in warfare by the Geneva Convention, to assault fellow citizens asking for better treatment. CMPD is also in our schools criminalizing Black and brown youth and further strengthening the school-to-prison pipeline. It’s time for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District (CMS) to provide real safety to students and immediately remove police from all of its schools. This demand may seem shocking to some, but it is the best way to create supportive environments for CMS students. Policing has its background in slave-catching and slave patrols. CMS, therefore, cannot have a relationship with such a system especially due to the fact that 36% of all students in this school district are Black. With your help, we can force CMS to end CMPD’s multi-million yearly contract and move to #PoliceFreeSchools immediately. CMS should use those funds to provide more mental health resources for students and staff, and invest in the students academically and socially. We know that the staff and police in our schools have racially profiled, and harassed Black and brown youth. School Resource Officers are unnecessary and not vital to promoting a healthy and safe environment in our schools. “What we’re asking for is not just reasonable and responsible, but entirely possible. Following the murder of George Floyd, the Minneapolis Public Schools system saw the real danger that police officers posed to children, and passed a resolution to end their contract with the Minneapolis Police Department.” (https://grassrootscollaborative.salsalabs.org/policefreeschools2020/index.html) You can help get police out of our schools by sending a message to the Superintendent, CMS School Board, Charlotte City Council, and Mayor Lyles. Ask them to remove police officers from our school and invest into the mental health and intellectual growth of their students instead. You can also sign our petition at MoveOn.org

Our current flag is a painful reminder of a sordid past. We need to remove this symbol from our state and replace it with a flag that unifies our people and represents all of us.

Art critics can serve as reproducers of racist ideology or as agents of change. As Ibram X. Kendi's work suggests, there can be no such thing as a nonracist art critic. There are only racist art critics or anti-racist art critics. Some of AICA-USA's membership has deployed racist, hateful speech masquerading as a legitimate debate about the role of race in the discipline. AICA-USA must stop using its infrastructure to give voice to this thinly veiled white supremacist hate speech. It is time for AICA-USA to reimagine itself as an agent for equality, equity, and anti-racist change.

If we can afford 5 trillion dollars for the wealthiest thousand citizens and endless wars, we can afford college for lower to lower middle income families as an investment in our collective future. All of the things are and more are possible........Let’s do them!!!

Washington DC recently renamed a section of Lafayette Park in honor of the Black Lives Matter movement to show support for the movement that has been embraced by so many of our citizens. We request that the New York City Mayor and City Council do the same by renaming a block of Fifth Avenue in a similar fashion to honor the memory of those lost and encourage change for the better so no citizen will suffer at the hands of those sworn to "protect and serve."

I am a teacher and believe that the key to reopening the economy is reopening schools and allowing parents to get back to work. Every state in our country is facing a budget deficit, thus we need the Federal Government to help make that gap. In order for states to reopen schools safely will require more money, not less to maintain smaller class sizes that allows for social distancing, to provide necessary PPE to students and staff, and to have health and counseling support that our students need. Most school district believe that they will need an additional 20-30% on top of their normal budgets to safely reopen. Without this Federal support it would be an impossibility to reopen our schools. Therefore, the gap between what schools are losing from state cuts and what they need to safely reopen is over $300 billion across the country. Thus, the Senate must act now!

This is urgently needed now because without this, we cannot come together. We must work together and solve our existential problems. We need to come together and see the Oneness and work for the good of all and let go of some of those individualistic points of view. What happens to one of us happens to all of us. Join me and sign this petition. Come together for Peace On Earth.

I have watched Trump lie and bully and dodge for 3 1/2 years, and turn the truth on its head for fun. But this is our country, and I refuse to let him use force on citizens and frighten us into complying with policy and behavior that is morally and legally wrong. How long before he uses our own soldiers to keep us from voting? Sign now!

Too many police are using their power to commit murder. Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and George Floyd are just three examples of police brutality resulting in death. There are so many more deaths of innocent people who died at the hands of those who are suppose to protect and serve and something needs to be done to stop it from happening. These poor innocent people and their families are dealing with tragedy when they don't have to.

It is important that we follow suit to where the city, state and nations are going, in the wake on George Floyd’s Death we would be Proud to have a Black Lives Matter in his honor and to all those that have lost there lives to police brutality.

By his misuse of military personnel and weapons President Trump committed three impeachable offenses in violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution: 1) Suppression of peaceful protesters expressing their right to freedom of speech; 2) interference with the people's guaranteed right to assemble; and 3) obstruction of citizens' acts of petitioning the Government for redress of grievances.

It would show that we as a nation is changing to give great people of America a voice. It would be a great magnitude and a positive impact to our nation! It will show we as a nation is willing to change for the better.