News, White House Report

Outrage Over Trump Police Reform Bill and Photo Op with Black People as Props

April Ryan
June 16, 2020

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President Trump will sign an executive order on police reform today at noon. Civil Rights leaders are outraged after learning the family of Ahmaud Arbery will be on hand as “props” for a photo op. The executive order is being criticized for not addressing issues Black America are marching for across the nation.

President Trump’s executive order puts the onus of investigating bad policing on local departments rather than the Department of Justice, another change from the Obama Administration.

Click ▶️ to listen to AURN Washington Bureau Chief April Ryan’s White House Report:

Ahmaud Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, right and family attorney S. Lee Merritt, left, leave the Glynn County Courthouse after the preliminary hearing of Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan, Thursday, June 4, 2020, in Brunswick, Ga. The three men are accused of shooting her son while he ran through their neighborhood in February. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)

April Ryan has a unique vantage point as the only Black female reporter covering urban issues from the White House, a position she has held with AURN since the Clinton era. Her position as a White House Correspondent has afforded her heightened insight into the racial sensitivities, issues, and attendant political struggles of our nation. April has written three books; The Presidency in Black & White: My Close-Up View of Three Presidents and Race in America, At Mama's Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White, and Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House. Twitter: @aprildryan