January 1, Cancel Culture Ends Cops on TV, Gone With the Wind

This Day in History | 1982

E.T., “Extra Terrestrial”, directed by Steven Speilberg,  is released in movie theaters across America.

Good morning Middle America, 

How far are we going to go with the cancelation of popular culture to make up for the sins of our past? All across America people are tearing down statues of confederate generals and the C.S.A.’s former president. Some people are even calling for the Washington and Jefferson monuments to come down, because they too owned slaves. We will be the first to admit that structural changes need to be made in our criminal justice system and, more broadly, in our everyday lives, we don’t quite understand why the tv shows Cops and Live PD are being canceled or where this will all stop. Gone with the Wind has also been dropped from HBO’s streaming service HBO Max. Will any of this actually keep police from treating black people differently? What do you think? That said – we do applaud NASCAR’s decision to ban the confederate flag from all of it’s events. The flag is simply to divisive and if you can’t see that, then you haven’t been paying attention. 

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-Fraser Dixon

George Floyd’s Brother Decries ‘A  Modern-Day Lynching’ in Testimony to Congress

(Reuters) – George Floyd’s younger brother took his grief to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday with an impassioned plea that lawmakers not let his brother’s death be in vain, lamenting that he “didn’t deserve to die over $20” in what he called a lynching.

The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee held the first congressional hearing to examine racial injustice and police brutality following George Floyd’s May 25 death after a Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. His death prompted a wave of protests in U.S. cities and abroad. 

“They lynched my brother. That was a modern-day lynching in broad daylight,” Philonise Floyd, 42, of Missouri City, Texas, near Houston, told the committee, his voice breaking with emotion.

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‘Live P.D.’ Canceled By A&E Amid Ongoing Protests Against Police Brutality

(Deadline) – A&E has canceled its flagship series and one of the highest-rated shows on basic cable. A week after Live P.D. was pulled in the wake of George Floyd’s death, the reality series’ hiatus has been made permanent.

The decision was made jointly by A&E and MGM’s Big Fish Entertainment, which produces the series.

“This is a critical time in our nation’s history and we have made the decision to cease production on Live PD,” the network said in a statement to Deadline. “Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them. And with that, we will be meeting with community and civil rights leaders as well as police departments.”

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NASCAR Bans Confederate Flag From its Races, Venues

(AP) – For more than 70 years, the Confederate flag was a common and complicated sight at NASCAR races. Through the civil rights era right on through the season opener at Daytona in February, the flag dotted infield campsites and was waved in grandstands by fans young and old.

As the nation — and at last, NASCAR — comes to grips with race relations in the wake of the death of George Floyd, it was time: The flag is no longer welcome in the stock car series.

NASCAR banned the flag at its races and all its venues Wednesday, a dramatic step by a series steeped in Southern tradition and proud of its good ol’ boy roots. It must now convince some of its most ardent fans that it is truly time to keep the flag at home, leave those T-shirts in the drawer, scrape off the bumper stickers and hit the track without a trace of the longtime symbol to many of racism and slavery. Policing the policy may prove challenging and NASCAR did not offer details.

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