The Boston Globe - 31.07.2019

A2 The Boston Globe WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2019

The Nation

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — A

gunman described as a dis-

gruntledWalmartemployee

fatally shot two co-workers

and wounded a police officer

before he was shot and arrest-

ed Tuesday at a Walmart store

in northern Mississippi, au-

thorities said.

Southaven Police Chief Ma-

con Moore said the man,

whom he did not name, shot a

Southaven police officer, who

was protected by a bulletproof

vest and suffered minor inju-

ries. The chief said a second

Southaven officer shot the sus-

pect, who was then taken for

surgery to a hospital in neigh-

boring Memphis.

Both people killed were

Walmart employees, Moore

said. Employees said the first

was shot in the parking lot,

the second inside the store.

Southaven Mayor Darren

Musselwhite described the

suspect as a disgruntled work-

er with a grievance against his

employer.

‘‘It wasn’t an accident,’’ said

Travis Jones, an overnight

stocker who was working

when he heard shots. ‘‘He

knew what he was doing when

he came in there.’’

Jones said he saw the body

of a store manager on the floor

as they ran out of the store. ‘‘It

was an ugly scene,’’ he said.

Moore said about 60 em-

ployees were working at the

time. They were taken to the

parking lot of an adjoining

Chili’s restaurant and inter-

viewed by officers. Some em-

braced, while one was placed

in an ambulance. Others gath-

ered in a circle to pray.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

GunmankillstwoatMiss.Walmart

CHICAGO — Two women

who worked with other moth-

ers to try to stop gun violence

in their South Side Chicago

neighborhood were killed by

bullets police do not believe

were intended for them on the

same corner where they would

often hand out food and bring

children to play.

The gunfire on Friday night

was instead meant for a man

who is affiliated with a Chica-

go street gang and recently got

out of prison, police spokes-

man Anthony Guglielmi said.

‘‘We have no information to

suggest they were the intend-

ed targets,’’ he said Tuesday,

adding that police are still

seeking leads in the case. No

arrests have been made.

The deaths of 26-year-old

Chantell Grant and 35-year-

old Andrea Stoudemire in the

Englewood neighborhood

served as a grim reminder of

the kind of violence that

prompted them to join Moth-

ers Against Senseless Killings.

The antiviolence group

launched five years ago in the

wake of the shooting death of

another young mother at the

same corner.

‘‘That’s why we’re out here

seven days a week... trying to

create a safe place where peo-

ple can learn to be neighbors

and not kill each other,’’ the

group’s founder, Tamar Ma-

nasseh, said.

She said she’s not willing to

accept the notion that Grant, a

mother of four, and Stou-

demire, who had three chil-

dren, were just in the wrong

place at the wrong time.

‘‘They killed mothers on a

corner where mothers sit ev-

ery day,’’ Manasseh said. ‘‘You

don’t have mothers killed in a

place that is sacred to mothers

and not take that as a mes-

sage.’’

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Policesaymotherswerenottargets

SACRAMENTO — Califor-

nia’s Democratic governor

signed a law Tuesday requiring

presidential candidates to re-

lease their tax returns to ap-

pear on the state’s primary bal-

lot, a move aimed squarely at

Republican President Trump.

But even if the law with-

stands a likely legal challenge,

Trump could avoid the re-

quirements by choosing not to

compete in California’s prima-

ry. With no credible GOP chal-

lenger at this point, he likely

won’t need California’s dele-

gates to win the Republican

nomination.

‘‘As one of the largest econ-

omies in the world and home

to one in nine Americans eligi-

ble to vote, California has a

special responsibility to re-

quire this information of presi-

dential and gubernatorial can-

didates,’’ Democratic Governor

Gavin Newsom wrote in his

veto message to the state Leg-

islature.

While the law is aimed at

Trump, it would apply to all

presidential contenders and

candidates for governor.

The major Democratic

2020 contenders have already

released tax returns for rough-

ly the past decade. Trump has

bucked decades of precedent

by refusing to release his.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Calif.governorinkspresidentialtaxbill

LOS ANGELES — More

than a year after President

Trump officially ended mi-

grant family separations at the

southern border, immigration

authorities continue to rou-

tinely separate families for rea-

sons as minor as a parent not

changing a baby’s diaper or

having a traffic citation for

driving without a license, ac-

cording to new documents

filed Tuesday in federal court.

More than 900 children

have been removed from an

adult — usually a parent —

with whom they arrived at the

southern border since June of

2018, according to tallies pro-

vided by the Department of

Justice to the American Civil

Liberties Union, which is chal-

lenging the separations.

“The administration is still

doing family separation under

the guise that they are protect-

ing children from their own

parents even though the crimi-

nal history they are citing is ei-

ther wrong or shockingly mi-

nor,” said Lee Gelernt, with the

ACLU’s Immigrants Rights

Project. “This is just circum-

venting the court’s order.”

The new numbers were

filed with Judge Dana M. Sa-

braw in San Diego as part of

the court’s supervision of the

family separation issue.

Family separations began

occurring in large numbers in

2018 under the Trump admin-

istration’s “zero tolerance” bor-

der enforcement policy.

The latest separations are

mainly based on crimes com-

mitted by the parent, accord-

ing to the new documents, but

ACLU lawyers argue that

many of the violations are as

minor as traffic tickets.

NEW YORK TIMES

Familyseparationsatbordercontinue

Daily Briefing

By Peter Baker
and Katie Rogers
NEW YORK TIMES
JAMESTOWN, Va. — Presi-
dent Trump hailed the contri-
butions of African-Americans to
the building of the nation dur-
ing a ceremony Tuesday paying
tribute to democracy in the
New World, even as he contin-
ued to wage war on some of his
most prominent black critics.
The president’s elevated and
scripted words honoring 400
years of representative govern-
ment in the Western Hemi-
sphere and the role played by
African-Americans stood in
sharp contrast to the acerbic at-
tacks he made beforehand on a
black congressman and his Bal-
timore-based district.
But the bitter, racial furor of
recent days, punctuated by his
latest comments assailing Rep-
resentative Elijah Cummings,
Democrat of Maryland, fol-
lowed Trump to Jamestown,
where elected representatives
first met in 1619. Virginia’s Af-
rican-American state lawmak-
ers boycotted his speech, calling
the president an “emblem of
hate” who does not represent
the best ideals of the nation.
One state lawmaker, Ibra-
heem Samirah, stood and inter-
rupted the president’s speech,
holding up a sign that said, “Go
Back to Your Corrupted Home”
and “Deport Hate.” Samirah, a

Democratic state delegate and a

Palestinian-American, shouted:

“Mr. President, you cannot send

us back. Virginia is our home.”

He was led out by police offi-

cers.

Trump made no response

nor did he reference the broader

controversy during his speech

but instead made a point of

highlighting that this year is al-

so the 400th anniversary of the

first slaves brought to America.

“Today, in honor, we remem-

ber every sacred soul who suf-

fered the horrors of slavery and

the anguish of bondage,” he

said, adding, “In the face of

grave oppression and grave in-

justice, African-Americans have

built, strengthened, inspired,

uplifted, protected, defended,

and sustained our nation from

its very earliest days.”

Just hours earlier, Trump

again disparaged Cummings,

whom he has accused in recent

days of running a “disgusting”

congressional district. “Balti-

more is an example of what cor-

rupt government leads to,”

Trump told reporters as he left

the White House. “I feel so sor-

ry for the people of Baltimore,

and if they ask me, we will get

involved.”

Trump offered no evidence of

corruption nor did he explain on

what he based such an accusa-

tion. But he made clear he was

unwilling to back down in a con-

tinuing war of words that has ag-

gravated racial tensions and left

many of his own advisers con-

cerned that he was turning off

suburban voters who could be a

key to his reelection next year.

Facing questions about his

apparent willingness in recent

days to divide his supporters

and opponents along racial

lines, Trump insisted that he

was “the least racist person

there is anywhere in the world.”

Then he called the Rev. Al

Sharpton, another recent ad-

versary, “a racist.”

This line of self-defense

came a day after the Virginia

Legislative Black Caucus, which

represents elected members of

the House of Delegates and the

state Senate, said in a state-

ment that its members could

not “in good conscience sit si-

lently” as a president who has

promoted racial divisions is giv-

en such a prominent platform.

“It is impossible to ignore

the emblem of hate and disdain

that the president represents,”

the caucus said in its statement.

The statement added that

Trump’s “repeated attacks on

black legislators and comments

about black communities”

made him “ill suited to honor

and commemorate such a mon-

umental period in history, espe-

cially if this nation is to move

forward with the ideals of ‘de-

mocracy, inclusion, and oppor-

tunity.’ ”

The lawmakers’ protest

came as Trump has employed

racist tropes repeatedly in re-

cent weeks. He told four Demo-

cratic congresswomen of color

to “go back” to their home

countries, even though three

were born in the United States

and the fourth was naturalized

as a teenager. In the last several

days, he has repeatedly assailed

Cummings and his “rat and ro-

dent infested” majority-black

district and targeted other foes

like Sharpton, who he said

“Hates Whites & Cops.”

Trump touts black contributions amid furor

He paid tribute

while continuing

war with critics

RCorrection:Because of a reporting error, a story in Tuesday’s

Metro section incorrectly stated the date of the first legislative

oversight hearing on the Registry of Motor Vehicles. It was July

22. The Globe regrets the error.

The Globe welcomes information about errors that call for

corrections. Information may be sent to [email protected] or

left in a message at 617-929-8230.

Fortherecord

MARK WEBER/DAILY MEMPHIAN VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

People embraced outside a Walmart store following a

shooting Tuesday in Southaven, Miss.

CHRISTIAN TORRES/ASSOCIATED PRESS
INTERNATIONAL MEETING —Two children played
seesaw on an installation at the border fence that divides

Mexico from the United States in Ciudad de Juarez,
Mexico, near El Paso, Sunday. The creator of the seesaw is

Ronaldo Rael, a professor of architecture in California.

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

JAMES H. WALLACE/RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

By Karoun Demirjian
WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON — Two sur-
vivors of sexual assault who
serve on the Senate Armed Ser-
vices Committee split sharply
Tuesday in their assessments of
whether President Trump’s
pick to serve as the military’s
second-highest officer was fit
for the job amid accusations
that he sexually assaulted an
Army colonel when she was un-
der his command.
‘‘Sexual assault happens in
the military. It just didn’t hap-
pen in this case,’’ Senator Mar-
tha McSally, Republican from
Arizona, said in defense of Gen-
eral John Hyten at his confir-
mation hearing, arguing that
the case ‘‘wasn’t just a jump
ball, not a he-said, she-said’’ but
that ‘‘the full truth was revealed
in this process.’’
‘‘The truth is that General
Hyten is innocent of these
charges,’’ she said.
But Senator Joni Ernst, an
Iowa Republican, said the facts
of the investigation ‘‘left me
with concerns regarding your
judgment, leadership, and fit-
ness to serve as the next vice
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff.’’
Hyten, who is currently in
charge of the nation’s nuclear
arsenal as the head of US Stra-
tegic Command, was nominat-
ed to serve as vice chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff in
April. That prompted Colonel
Kathryn Spletstoser to come

forward with allegations that

he repeatedly made unwanted

sexual contact with her while

the two traveled for work in

2017.

‘‘I’m intensely aware of the

allegations made against me

concerning one of the most se-

rious problems we have in the

military,’’ Hyten said Tuesday

during his opening statement

before the committee. ‘‘These

allegations are false. There was

a very extensive, thorough in-

vestigation... that revealed the

truth: nothing happened, ever.’’

McSally and Ernst went

publicearlierthisyearwith

their personal stories of sexual

assault and rape: McSally was

the victim of a superior officer

in the Air Force, while Ernst,

who is also a veteran, was vic-

timized in college.

Ernst did not defend Splets-

toser’s allegations but focused

her concerns on Hyten’s ap-

proach to the colonel, who was

asked to leave his command af-

ter an internal investigation de-

termined she had created a

‘‘toxic work environment.’’

McSally did not say how or

why she reached the conclusion

that she would support Hyten.

Both Hyten and Spletstoser

said Tuesday that they would

endorse a release of the report.

Several senators spoke in

Hyten’s defense during Tues-

day’s hearing.

But no senators spoke out

specifically in defense of Splets-

toser.

GOPsenatorssplitover

JointChiefsnominee

At left, President Trump

was in Jamestown, Va., for

the 400th anniversary of

the first representative

legislative assembly

Tuesday. Above, Virginia

Delegates Delores McQuinn

(right) and Eileen Filler-

Corn (center) did not attend

the ceremony in protest.