The King County Council has approved $150,000 to expand safe-passage efforts around Rainier Beach High School following the fatal shooting of two teenagers near campus earlier this year.
The funding comes in response to the Jan. 30 shooting that claimed the lives of Tyjon Malik Stewart, 18, and Tra’Veiah Houfmuse, 17, at a Metro bus stop near the school. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the King County Regional Office for Gun Violence Prevention worked alongside school leaders, community organizations and families around the clock to support students, coordinate community safety efforts and help stabilize the neighborhood.
The newly approved funding will allow those safe-passage efforts to continue, providing students with increased support as they travel between Metro bus stops and the school. Safe-passage programs place trained adults and trusted community members along students’ routes before and after school to provide a visible presence, build relationships and help deter violence.
“Our budget work as a council is critical to ensuring that King County is responsive to emerging and immediate community needs,” said Councilmember Rhonda Lewis, whose District 2 includes Rainier Beach. “We can be proud of the King County Regional Office for Gun Violence Prevention for stepping up and working with Rainier Beach High School and the surrounding community.”
In addition to approving the funding, the Council directed King County Metro to conduct a review of safety improvements at transit stops serving Rainier Beach High School, including evaluating infrastructure and security enhancements that could improve student safety.
Less than a month after the shooting, nearly 90 parents, educators, community members and public officials gathered for a two-hour virtual meeting hosted by the Southeast Principals, representing Rainier Beach High School, South Shore K-8, Alan T. Sugiyama High School and Interagency High School. The meeting focused on strengthening school safety and identifying both immediate and long-term solutions for students.
“The folks of the community really responded to this incident, and it shows what we can do when we’re working together,” said Paul Patu of Urban Family.
During the meeting, Seattle Police Department South Precinct Captain Heidi Tuttle outlined several public safety initiatives, including increased patrols during student arrival and dismissal times and plans to assign a detective liaison to work with youth most at risk of becoming involved in gun violence.
“This is an even greater opportunity for me to take the time to really collaborate with people’s relationships in honor of these two young men,” Tuttle said.
King County Metro also increased the presence of transit safety officers around the Rainier Beach bus stop during peak travel hours following the shooting. Officials said they worked with the community to preserve the memorial created for the two students while the bus stop was temporarily closed.
While officials discussed operational improvements, many parents focused on the emotional impact the tragedy has had on students and families.
“It’s a horrible feeling to have lost somebody, and there’s no place to see that they existed,” one parent said during the meeting. “These boys were particularly special, so not having something at the school has a grave impact going forward.”
Community organizations have continued providing support for students and families as the community heals.
Crystal Alexander, Southeast Seattle branch co-director of Community Passageways, said the organization immediately began providing grief support at Rainier Beach High School following the shooting and is expanding its presence near neighborhood light rail stations while offering youth healing programs, crisis intervention and mental health services.
“Our community is grieving, but we’re standing together,” Alexander said.
County leaders say the $150,000 investment is part of a broader effort to improve safety around Rainier Beach High School through stronger partnerships among schools, law enforcement, transit officials and community organizations.
A proposed amendment to Seattle’s 2026 Transit Measure would expand funding for accessibility and safety improvements at transit stops, sidewalks and pedestrian connections, with supporters saying the changes would make public transportation more accessible for people with disabilities, older adults and others who rely on transit.
The amendment, introduced by Seattle City Councilmember Debora Juarez, was presented Monday during a meeting of the City Council’s Select Committee on the Seattle Transportation Benefit District as councilmembers continue reviewing the proposed renewal of the Seattle Transit Measure before it goes before voters this fall.
The current Seattle Transit Measure, approved by voters in 2020, expires in April 2027. City leaders are now considering a 10-year renewal package that would generate an estimated $138 million annually through a proposed increase in the city’s sales tax. According to the proposal released by Mayor Katie Wilson, most of the funding would support additional bus service, while also expanding access to free ORCA transit cards and investing in transit infrastructure.
Juarez’s proposal, known as Amendment 20, would broaden the definition of eligible infrastructure maintenance and capital improvements, allowing transit funding to be used for a wider range of accessibility projects.
Those projects could include Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) upgrades, improvements to transit stops, pedestrian safety enhancements, accessible pathways connecting neighborhoods to transit, and improved wayfinding for riders with visual impairments and other disabilities.
“As someone who has lived with multiple sclerosis and faced mobility challenges for over 25 years, independent mobility is critical,” Juarez said. “We must ensure our capital investments actively break down barriers to support the safety and dignity of riders who rely on this system every single day.”
Juarez said the amendment was developed after receiving recommendations from the Seattle Disability Commission and the Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board.
According to the City Council, approximately 86% of the proposed $1.4 billion transit package is currently dedicated to transit service, while less than 4% is allocated specifically for transit infrastructure serving people with disabilities, older adults and individuals with vision impairments.
Supporters say expanding the allowable uses of those infrastructure funds would help ensure transit investments improve not only bus service, but also the safety and accessibility of the spaces riders use to reach buses and other forms of public transportation.
The proposed Seattle Transit Measure renewal represents one of the city’s largest transportation funding packages in recent years. In addition to preserving existing transit service, the proposal would fund additional bus trips, improve transit reliability and expand programs that provide free ORCA transit passes to qualifying residents.
The Select Committee will hold a public hearing on the proposal July 13, with opportunities for both remote and in-person public comment. Remote testimony is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., while in-person public comment will begin at 5 p.m.
Councilmembers are expected to vote on the proposed amendments and the final Seattle Transit Measure package on July 16. If approved, the measure would appear on the November 2026 general election ballot for Seattle voters.
If approved by voters, the renewed Seattle Transit Measure would continue funding transit investments after the current measure expires in April 2027.
Seattle is once again offering free breakfasts, lunches, snacks and, at select locations, dinner to children and teens this summer through its annual Summer Food Service Program, providing nutritious meals at parks and community centers across the city through Aug. 21.
The federally funded program, which began June 24, is open to all youth ages 18 and younger with no registration, identification or income requirements. Meals are served rain or shine, helping ensure children continue receiving nutritious food while school is out for the summer.
For many Seattle families, the end of the school year also means the loss of free or reduced-price school meals, creating additional financial pressure during the summer months.
“The summer food service program is meant to serve kids who would normally be receiving a free or reduced lunch during the school year,” explained Tina Skilton of the Seattle Human Services Department Food and Nutrition Team. “Those families really rely on those meals during the year, and it’s a huge budget hit in the summer when they are no longer receiving them.”
Skilton said the program is intentionally located in neighborhoods where families are most likely to need additional support.
“We’re making sure that meals are available in areas with low-income kids where families might be struggling with the grocery bills and the high cost of food,” she said. “It runs for about nine weeks every summer, designed to complement the school year. As soon as school’s out, around the end of June, we start up in Seattle.”
Children may receive up to two meals each day, including breakfast, lunch, a snack or, at select sites, dinner. There is no application process or attendance requirement.
“Children are able to come out to meal sites and get a meal on any given day without having to do anything but show up. There’s no need to feel any type of stigma,” Skilton said. “There is no income eligibility requirement, no sign-up, no attendance—really easy access.”
For Temesgen Melashu, who helps operate the program this summer, the work has come full circle.
“This program is free to all youth. I, myself, was a child who participated in this program at a young age, and now I get the opportunity to work the program myself. It’s very full circle,” Melashu said. “This program is so important. It’s a vital nutritional need. And it’s a great way to get out and meet kids around your community.”
Seattle Parks and Recreation operates the program in partnership with the Seattle Human Services Department and United Way of King County, combining free meals with recreational programming throughout the summer.
Many park locations also offer free activities before and after meals, including arts and crafts, games and hands-on STEM programming led by Seattle Parks and Recreation Naturalists, giving children a safe place to learn, play and stay engaged throughout the summer while families are at work.
Under federal program rules, meals must be eaten on site, and children must be present to receive them. Parents and guardians may not pick up meals on behalf of their children.
Because the program is designed to be flexible, youth are welcome to visit different meal sites depending on where they are spending time throughout the summer, whether they are at home, visiting family or participating in neighborhood activities.
Meals will be available at parks and community centers throughout Seattle. Participating sites include:
Park locations (featuring activities):
• Beacon Hill Playfield
• Brighton Park
• Cheryl Chow Park
• Highland Park
• Judkins Park
• Little Brook Park
• North Acres Park
• Othello Park
• Pratt Park
• Roxhill Park
Community centers:
• Garfield
• Jefferson
• Yesler
• Bitter Lake
• Meadowbrook
• Northgate
• Rainier
• Rainier Beach
• High Point
• South Park
• Van Asselt
Families looking for the closest meal site can use the United Way of King County’s Free Summer Meals Site Finder or visit the Seattle Human Services Department’s Summer Food Program webpage for additional locations and schedules.
The need for the program remains significant. More than 18,000 Seattle children qualify for free or reduced-price meals during the school year, and one in six children experiences food insecurity. Last summer, the program served more than 80,000 meals to children and teens who otherwise may have missed a nutritious meal while school was out.
The decision to suspend Folarin Balogun's one-game red card ban caused a swath of criticism around the world. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
The decision to suspend Folarin Balogun’s one-game red card ban caused a swath of criticism around the world. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
By Kyle Feldscher, Ben Church, CNN
(CNN) — Note: This story first appeared in The Beautiful Game by CNN Sports, our daily newsletter on all things World Cup. To subscribe, click here.
Usually, we like to look forward in this newsletter, but the events of the last 48 or so hours really require us to look back at what might be one of the worst periods for American soccer in its history.
Many neutrals will say it’s justice done (or, in the parlance of American sports fans, “ball don’t lie”). American fans will rue the fact that such a feel-good story ended in embarrassment on and off the field as a US president who loves the spotlight seized it at an inopportune time and then a promising team crashed out in the worst way possible.
Here’s how it all went wrong:
The Main Thing: A disastrous 36 hours for US soccer
At 12:40 p.m. ET on Sunday, FIFA announced that its disciplinary committee determined that it would suspend the one-game ban resulting from Balogun’s red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina, allowing him to play against Belgium. World soccer’s governing body cited an obscure rule – the now-infamous Article 27 – that would allow American striker to have his ban suspended for one year and put him on probation.
FIFA pointed to precedent – Cristiano Ronaldo had a ban from qualifiers similarly suspended to allow Portugal to have him available for the group stage at the World Cup. But immediately the hackles of observers around the soccer world were raised. A World Cup co-host with a president who isn’t afraid to barge in on any controversial issue suddenly had a decision go its way? How convenient.
And then the implicit became the explicit as CNN and others reported that President Donald Trump had, in fact, called FIFA boss Gianni Infantino and asked him to review Balogun’s red card. Suddenly, it was an international incident.
The Royal Belgian Football Association reacted with fury and promised to explore all its options. Red Devils coach Rudi Garcia said his team would be playing to defend the entire sport against political intrusion. Commentators from around the world condemned the decision and said any US success from then on would be tainted.
He admitted to reporters that he asked Infantino to review the suspension – though he said, “I didn’t tell him what to do” – and claimed he didn’t know what a red card meant, even though he also didn’t think Balogun’s offense was a foul (Spanish editor’s note: it was).
Not long after that, FIFA announced Belgium’s appeal had failed. Hours later, the committee in question released a long statement that detailed more of their thinking, though it left major questions unanswered.
And then the whistle blew
It was enough to put bad vibes around the American team before a ball had been kicked. And when the game started, it seemed as if the youthful, energetic and intense American team had their powers sapped by the Monstars from “Space Jam.”
From the opening minute, the US didn’t look like it was in the game and then its Achilles’ heel – weak defending – came to the forefront. The Red Devils scored in the ninth minute after some shockingly bad US work in its own end, allowing Charles De Ketelaere an easy tap-in goal.
Even the good moments for the Americans were short lived. Malik Tillman’s free kick deflected into the Belgium goal in the 31st minute to bring the Americans level, but just two minutes later, captain Tim Ream was beaten by De Ketelaere again for a header as the Belgians restored their lead.
FIFA could allow Balogun to get back on the pitch, but it couldn’t save the USA from its mortal weakness in defense. As the US pushed for an equalizer in the second half, keeper Matt Freese’s awful error gifted the Belgians their third goal and essentially iced the game.
The moment underlined the difference in quality. Freese hesitated on the ball for a split second. He might have gotten away with it for his club in Major League Soccer. But against elite opposition, that fraction of a second is the difference between winning and losing.
The most embarrassing thing for the USA is that Garcia clearly was out to make an example of the Americans after all the pregame controversy. With his team up two goals, the Belgium boss chose that moment to put on Romelu Lukaku and Jérémy Doku, two talented players who hadn’t even been in the game to that point.
Garcia wanted to put the dagger in the USA, and Lukaku eventually did it in the 93rd minute to complete the humiliation.
It’s a whiplash moment that threatens to upend Americans’ memories of this team and this tournament. From earning the begrudging respect of the soccer world to suddenly being the butt of their jokes – not to mention yet another exit at the Round of 16 stage – it’s a difficult pill to swallow for those who thought this tournament might be the moment for the USA to join the world’s elite.
Instead, it’s a reminder of how far the US still has to go – and how the nation’s toxic political climate, which this tournament had been immune to on the field for the better part of three weeks, can still infect even the most feel-good of stories.
Argentina vs. Egypt
When? 12 p.m. ET
Where? Atlanta Stadium (Mercedes-Benz Stadium), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
By CNN’s Emile Nuh
Away from the drama of last night, we still have two more games to watch today, starting with the defending champion.
Argentina was pushed to the brink of elimination in the Round of 32 by Cape Verde before it found a way to progress courtesy of a late, extra-time own goal that gave it a nervy 3-2 victory. It saved the Albiceleste from one of the biggest upsets in sports history.
Prior to that it had all been fairly routine for Lionel Messi & Co. They breezed through Group J, finishing top with a perfect record after wins against Algeria, Austria and Jordan.
The Cape Verde scare, then, might have served as a useful wakeup call. Or was it a sign of cracks in the foundation?
Standing in Argentina’s way will be an inspired Egypt side who has already made history at this tournament. The Pharaohs progressed past the group stage for the first time after draws against Belgium and Iran, and a 3-1 victory against New Zealand – their first ever World Cup win.
Egypt then went the distance against Australia in the Round of 32, edging past the Socceroos on penalties to claim its first win in the knockout round. It now needs to produce a huge upset to book its place in the last eight.
This game pits the most decorated nations in South America and Africa against each other – Argentina being a 16-time Copa América winner and Egypt being a seven-time AFCON champion – but it also sees Messi come up against Mohamed Salah.
Both men been talismanic for their nations, carrying the weight of expectation on their shoulders for years. It’s not clear whether we’ll see either man at a World Cup again after this summer, so it could be a final opportunity to sit back and watch the two superstars perform.
A quarterfinal clash against Switzerland or Colombia in Kansas City on Saturday awaits the winner.
Quote of the Day
The words of Cristiano Ronaldo as Portugal bowed out of the tournament with a 1-0 defeat to Spain just a few hours before the USA lost to Belgium.
Ronaldo looked visibly emotional after the full-time whistle in what was the final World Cup game of his career.
The 41-year-old struggled to make much of an impact this summer as he tried so desperately to win a World Cup for his country. But it wasn’t to be.
Missing out on the ultimate prize remains the one blemish in his otherwise mind-blowing trophy cabinet.
WATCH: Argentina fans rally behind US after World Cup loss
Our CNN Sports colleague Don Riddell speaks with Argentine fans who flocked to support the USA against Belgium in the World Cup. The Red Devils ended the US team’s quarterfinal hopes, winning 4-1.
Kylian Mbappé accuses Paraguayan lawmaker of racism after ‘Colonized Cameroonian’ remark
By CNN’s Michael Rios
French superstar Kylian Mbappé has accused a Paraguayan senator of “racism” after she called the striker a “colonized Cameroonian.”
Senator Celeste Amarilla launched her tirade Saturday on X after France defeated Paraguay in the World Cup’s Round of 16, with Mbappé scoring the match’s only goal.
“Colonized Cameroonian, pretending hard to be French, resentful, newly rich, arrogant and ugly,” she said, adding: “The brute didn’t even learn to write; instead of mother’s milk, he sucked on coconuts, and the most educated things he heard were chimpanzees.”
Mbappé fired back on Monday, calling Amarilla a “despicable woman.”
“Because of your recklessness and unabashed racism, the entire world has already forgotten the historic journey and effort your players put into this World Cup, focusing instead on an incompetent woman projecting the worst possible image of her country,” he said.
The French Football Federation also condemned the senator’s remarks as racist and said it would file a complaint with prosecutors.
French President Emmanuel Macron also weighed in, praising Mbappé for scoring another goal “against racism this time.”
The Paraguayan foreign ministry said it “deplores and rejects” Amarilla’s words. “The government of Paraguay reaffirms its firm commitment to the promotion of human rights, equality and respect among people,” it said in a statement.
Mbappé will be back in action when Les Bleus face Morocco in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Switzerland vs. Colombia
When? 4 p.m. ET
Where? BC Place Vancouver, Vancouver, Canada
By CNN’s Emile Nuh
The last game of the Round of 16 pits two nations against each other who have had stellar tournaments so far.
Switzerland topped Group B ahead of co-host Canada after beating Les Rouges 2-1 in its final group game, which came after an emphatic 4-1 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina and a 1-1 draw against Qatar in its opener.
Goals from Breel Embolo and Dan Ndoye either side of halftime then comfortably saw the Swiss past Algeria in the Round of 32 and marked the nation’s first win in the knockouts since 1938.
The Round of 16 is not unfamiliar territory for Switzerland – this is its fourth consecutive appearance at this stage – but victory over Colombia would see the central Europeans return to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1954.
Like the Swiss, Colombia is also unbeaten in the tournament so far. Los Cafeteros topped Group K ahead of Portugal as their 0-0 stalemate against the Seleção was preceded by successive wins against DR Congo and Uzbekistan.
Néstor Lorenzo’s side then put on a dominant display against Ghana in the Round of 32 despite only winning 1-0, as the Black Stars failed to register a single shot on target.
Colombia is now within touching distance of just a second-ever World Cup quarterfinals and a first since Brazil 2014, where it lost 2-1 to the host.
The winner will face defending champion Argentina or Mohamed Salah’s Egypt in Kansas City on Saturday.
The Final Whistle: Trump’s latest shot at Europe comes at its most prized pastime
From CNN’s Stephen Collinson
He can tariff Europe’s wine, chocolate and Mercedes.
And he can send JD Vance to Munich to act like your un-PC uncle at Thanksgiving.
But now he’s meddling with Europe’s secular religion: the sport he refers to as “football slash soccer.” There’s nothing more likely to unite nations who’ve long fought each other.
Trump’s request to FIFA boss Gianni Infantino to nix a one-game ban against US star striker Folarin Balogun before last night’s game with Belgium won’t exactly improve the vibes at the NATO summit in Turkey this week.
Unprecedented interference by a US president in an on-field World Cup incident will reinforce what many Europeans thought about Trump already – that he’s an unscrupulous power player who cares nothing for the rules.
But he was hardly Mr. Popular before, and in Turkey, he’ll meet two friends with whom he recently fell out.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was once seen as a Trump whisperer but that imploded when he claimed she “begged” him for a selfie at last month’s G7 summit. Her acidic reply came in a social media video: “I never beg, nor does Italy.” Soccer talk won’t break the ice, since Italy – in what has become an unfortunately commonplace occurrence for the proud soccer nation – failed to qualify for the World Cup finals. But in a show of sporting integrity that may be anathema to Trump, the Azzurri rejected as “shameful” a suggestion floated in the US that they might take the spot of America’s war foe Iran due to the conflict in the Middle East.
Trump will also encounter another former pal – Keir Starmer – who’ll shortly have more time to pursue his avid amateur soccer career after resigning as British prime minister.
Maybe Trump was trying to build bridges when he praised England’s Sunday win over Mexico. “I think (Harry) Kane is a great player,” Trump said, noting that he’d played golf with the Bayern Munich superstar.
But it’s unlikely to work.
Before Kane headed to Germany, he was an icon at Tottenham Hotspur, and Starmer is a die-hard fan of Spurs’ hated North London nemesis, Arsenal.
Belgium's Romelu Lukaku celebrates his late goal. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku celebrates his late goal. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
By Kyle Feldscher
(CNN) – The impossible dream for the United States has proved to be just that as the USA crashes out of the World Cup with a 4-1 loss to Belgium.
Defensive weaknesses proved to be the USA’s undoing as two first half-goals from Charles de Ketelaere and a second-half strike from Hans Vanaken all came off defensive mistakes from the USA. A final goal from Romelu Lukaku was the dagger.
The USA got its goal from Malik Tillman on a first-half free kick, but the second goal from de Ketelaere came just a minute later and snuffed out the US’ momentum.
Difficult scenes around Lumen Field, where the USA has just lost for the first time in its history.
Chris Richards and Weston McKennie are in tears on the field and on the bench, and the USA players are looking solemn as they gather at the center of the pitch.
The team gathers in a circle for one final talk from Mauricio Pochettino, who may have gotten his first real taste of what the USA is facing when it runs into the top sides in the world.
After the scenes on this field a couple weeks ago after the win over Australia, the jubilant singing of “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” the vibe could not be more different.
It’s a difficult end for the USA, which had looked so promising earlier in the tournament but could never quite reach that same level of performance on Monday.
A lot of neutral observers will see this result as justice after two days of headlines alleging US President Donald Trump interfered in the sporting process around Folarin Balogun’s red card.
Belgian coach Rudi Garcia positioned his team as defending the entire sport against Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Sunday and set his team up to embarrass the USA. He didn’t play three of his best players – Romelu Lukaku and Jérémy Doku only entered when it was already 3-1 and Kevin De Bruyne never even came in – and instead organized his team to frustrate the US’ patented press.
It was clear that he wanted to prove a point after Trump grabbed the headlines earlier in the day by detailing his efforts to get FIFA to examine Balogun’s red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
His point was proved. His team’s account on X rammed the message home, simply posting: “Overturn this.”
The tournament will go on without the USA (or the other two co-hosts, which all went out at the Round of 16 stage), and FIFA can breathe a slight sigh of relief. There will be no questions around a deep run in the tournament for the USA, no asterisks around possible success for the US.
Instead, much of the rest of the soccer world will likely feel vindication – and more than a little bit of satisfaction at American humiliation on such a huge stage.
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 04: A passenger (C) looks on as members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front ride the Washington Metro on July 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. Numerous events, activities, and fireworks are planned in celebration of America's 250th Anniversary. (Photo by Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 04: A passenger (C) looks on as members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front ride the Washington Metro on July 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. Numerous events, activities, and fireworks are planned in celebration of America’s 250th Anniversary. (Photo by Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
The most revealing image of America’s 250th birthday celebration wasn’t the fireworks bursting over the National Mall, colonial reenactors in Boston, or the military flyovers that filled Washington, D.C.’s skies. It was a Reuters photo, shot by Cheney Orr, of a lone Black woman on public transportation.
Riding the Metro, Washington’s subway system, the as-yet-unidentified woman, in a green T-shirt, was sitting in a train car crowded with nearly a dozen identically dressed white men wearing khakis, navy shirts, baseball caps, sunglasses, and face masks.
With members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front filling the train car around her, she stared ahead, her expression frozen somewhere on a grid between practiced indifference, quiet calculation, anger, and fear.
The image Orr captured raced around social media because millions of Americans saw it and instantly understood what they were looking at: a hate group out in public, retelling an old American story about Black trauma, in modern costume.
Echoes of History
For Black Americans, the photograph was painfully familiar.
It echoed the images of Elizabeth Eckford, a Black teenager, hounded by an angry white mob in Little Rock, and Ruby Bridges, a Black child, walking past screaming segregationists into a New Orleans elementary school. Uncut racism against Black women and girls, on full display.
Now, we have a photo of a Black woman juxtaposed against looming masked white nationalists, as if a century of American racial history had folded in on itself.
From the Ku Klux Klan to the White Citizens Council to the Proud Boys, every generation has produced its own version of organized white intimidation. The uniforms change. The slogans evolve. The technology improves. But the underlying message, plainly and unequivocally told by white men, remains remarkably consistent: We belong here. You are merely tolerated.
Hiding in Plain Sight
Patriot Front wraps itself in the language of patriotism while promoting its white nationalist vision of America. Members marched through Washington carrying American and Confederate imagery beneath chants of “Reclaim America,” presenting themselves as defenders of the nation’s founding ideals — even as their movement traces its roots to the aftermath of the fatal 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally.
Yet perhaps the most striking detail wasn’t they carried or chanted. It was what they hid.
America’s original patriots signed their names. The Klan hid beneath hoods. Patriot Front wraps itself in the flag while hiding behind masks.
Every face concealed, every distinguishing feature erased. Every member rendered indistinguishable from the next. It is unsettling, by design, and is not a new tradition in America.
The Klan understood more than a century ago that anonymity is its own weapon. White robes and pointed hoods, while theatrical, protected identities, denied victims the ability to identify attackers and insulated participants from social and legal accountability.
The masks transformed ordinary men into an anonymous mob.
Terror Without Consequence
History remembers those tactics well. In the 1920s, tens of thousands of robed, hooded Klansmen marched openly through Washington, D.C., demonstrating that white supremacy was not a small cadre confined to Southern back roads but a political movement comfortably at home in the nation’s capital. Masked “night riders” menaced rural Black communities in the South under cover of darkness to instill terror without consequence.
A century later, the wardrobe has changed, from white robes to tactical khakis. The strategy has not.
Patriot Front claims it represents courage, tradition, and American patriotism. Yet it is difficult to square that claim with the effort its members make to avoid being recognized. And their appearance on July 4 in a subway car headed to the National Mall is a contradiction that’s impossible to ignore.
The men who signed the Declaration of Independence pledged, in their words, “our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” Whatever else history says about them, they publicly attached their names to beliefs they considered worth dying for.
Patriot Front members invoke the founders while refusing to identify themselves. If they believe their cause is righteous — that it represents the true America — why the masks?
Unsettling Image
It’s because they know that openly embracing white supremacy carries consequences. Employers notice. So do neighbors, friends, family. So the white men in matching outfits hide behind the symbolism of public strength without accepting the personal cost of public conviction. That tension is part of what makes the Metro photograph so unsettling.
The woman at its center did not choose to become a symbol; she simply wanted to get somewhere on the subway. The millions of people who saw her recognized her discomfort. But Black Americans understood the emotional arithmetic written on her face: if you’re outnumbered and perceive danger, stay calm, avoid attention, get home safely.
The photo compresses centuries of the Black experience into a single subway car. One Black woman sits alone while a movement that claims to love America conceals its identity.
The Metro photograph is unsettling because it reveals insecurity masquerading as strength. America’s original patriots signed their names. The Klan hid beneath hoods. Patriot Front wraps itself in the flag while hiding behind masks.
For all its talk of reclaiming America, its members seem unwilling to claim their own beliefs.
(Trice Edney Wire) – When we forget the first fights over voting rights, we forget who profits when the many are divided.
Voting rights is back in the news because some people are still trying to decide whose votes deserve trust. In Georgia, the Justice Department and FBI under President Donald Trump have reopened questions around Fulton County’s 2020 election records after agents seized hundreds of boxes of ballots. The Associated Press reports the FBI has assigned 260 analysts and operations staff to review them.
Fulton County includes most of Atlanta and sits at the heart of Georgia’s transformation. It has a large Black electorate, growing Latino and Asian American communities, and many newer residents drawn by the Atlanta region’s jobs and universities. It voted against President Trump. Yet Georgia’s 2020 result was not some partisan rumor. Local officials counted the ballots. The state counted them three times, including once by hand. Republican officials certified the result. Each count confirmed the same outcome. That matters because vote suppression has often followed the same pattern: discredit the voters, divide the people, deprive enough citizens of the ballot, and move power upward.
The country has largely forgotten one of its earliest broad voting rights victories: the campaign to end property qualifications for white men. In many states, a man could be white, free, taxed, armed and called to defend the Revolution — and still be denied the vote because he did not own enough property.
Those men did not suffer as long as Black men, women, Native people or others shut out of democracy. Their exclusion still reveals the old fault line. Power rightfully belongs to the people. Yet wealthy interests have often tried to keep too much of it for themselves.
Some people profit from our forgetting. If we forget that landless white men once had to fight for the vote, we can miss the pattern when it returns in new clothes.
Benjamin Franklin saw the absurdity. He told the story of a man whose vote depended on owning a jackass worth enough money to qualify him. When the animal died, the man lost the vote. Franklin asked the obvious question: “In whom is the right of suffrage? In the man or in the jackass?”
Thomas Paine gave the moral answer. “Man did not enter into society to become worse than he was before, nor to have fewer rights than he had before, but to have those rights better secured.”
There is irony in President Trump’s love of President Andrew Jackson. Jackson and his allies built the Democratic Party with a founding promise: government should answer to the landless many, not merely the propertied few.
Jackson’s democracy was badly bounded. It excluded Black people, women and Native people. His politics also embraced slaveholding white supremacy. Still, he saw one danger clearly. In his veto of the national bank, he warned that “the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes.”
That warning fits this moment. Vote suppression has often worked by discrediting voters, dividing working people against one another, and depriving the many of their full voice so some rich and powerful people can bend government toward themselves.
That was much of the logic of monarchy: divide and conquer. It was much of the logic of Jim Crow: tell poor white people their enemy is Black freedom. It was true in the 1820s. It was true in the 1920s, when immigrants from predominantly Catholic countries like Ireland and Italy were cast as threats to real America. It is true today, when immigrants from predominantly Catholic countries like Haiti and Mexico are made into scapegoats again. Tell rural voters their enemy is city voters. Tell Election Day voters their enemy is mail voters.
The tools change. The purpose often does not. Property requirements became poll taxes. Poll taxes became literacy tests. Literacy tests gave way to purges, ID rules, closed polling places and attacks on early voting, same-day registration and mail ballots.
The burden comes as paperwork, deadlines, long lines, missing names and ballots questioned after the people have spoken. A poll tax charged money. A long line charges time. Cutting early voting can tax people who do not control their schedules. Restricting mail ballots can tax seniors, disabled voters, rural voters and caregivers.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson spent his life widening the meaning of the many. He urged young people to hold “a diploma in one hand” and “a voter registration card in that other hand.” Education and the ballot. Knowledge and power.
I come to this history as a son of the Revolution, the abolitionist movement, and the Southern populist tradition that rose in the decades after the Civil War and united working men across color lines. My great-great-grandfather, Edward David Bland, was born enslaved and died a Virginia legislator.
He helped build the Readjuster Party, a post-Civil War, multiracial voting rights movement that brought together Black men who had been enslaved and white men who had fought for the Confederacy. Their cause was schools, fairer taxes, debt relief, voting rights and democracy. When they gained power, they abolished Virginia’s poll tax.
After they were broken, Virginia’s ruling Democrats wrote a new constitution in 1902 that brought the poll tax back with literacy tests and other barriers. Black voters were almost wiped out as a political force. White voting was cut roughly in half. The old ruling class knew whose coalition it was trying to prevent from rising again.
Imagine if every schoolchild learned that the poll tax was not only an attack on Black voting power but also on poor white voting power. We might see the trick more clearly when it returns in new clothes.
The Democratic donkey did not come from Franklin’s parable. It came from Jackson’s enemies calling him a jackass, an insult he embraced and cartoonists later made stick. Still, the echo is hard to miss.
If Democrats keep the jackass, they should remember Franklin’s question. The right was never in the jackass. It was never in the deed, the poll tax, the ID card, the Tuesday work schedule, the mailbox or the database.
The right is in the people. Every generation that won more democracy ultimately did so by resisting efforts by the few to divide the many. That is our work now: remember the history, reject the division, and defend the vote for every one of us.
Ben Jealous is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania and former national president and CEO of the NAACP.
A sign stands outside a Smithsonian Institution building during the first day of a partial government shutdown, in Washington, DC, on October 1, 2025. (Annabelle Gordon/Reuters via CNN Newsource)
A sign stands outside a Smithsonian Institution building during the first day of a partial government shutdown, in Washington, DC, on October 1, 2025. (Annabelle Gordon/Reuters via CNN Newsource)
By Aleena Fayaz, CNN
(CNN) — The White House in a new report accused leaders of the Smithsonian Institution of adopting a divisive, far-left ideological framework that erases American heritage, marking the latest move by the Trump administration to reshape US cultural and historical institutions.
In the report, published Saturday on the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, the White House Domestic Policy Council says the Smithsonian has moved its mission “away from straightforward historical education and scholarship toward an extreme political activism that seeks to transform our country.”
During President Donald Trump’s second administration, the world’s largest museum institution and a key voice in shaping the narrative of America’s history has been under pressure to remove “woke” ideology, even though it operates as a unique public-private trust and does not consider itself an executive agency.
“For more than 180 years, the Smithsonian has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship, and we remain committed to doing so,” a Smithsonian spokesperson told CNN on Sunday.
CNN has reached out to the White House to ask what the administration plans to do with the report.
The 162-page document follows a March 2025 executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which sought to combat what the White House calls “historical revisions” that cast the country’s history in a negative light. The order set off changes to cultural institutions across the country including national parks and monuments. As a result, Trump’s aides have been tasked with rooting out what it considers anti-American propaganda at the institution.
The White House report alleges the leadership at the National Museum of American History, in particular, has been captured by a “radical, activist ideology” that is in opposition of the nation’s “noble, honest story.” The report hinges on several key findings, including a lack of attention paid to America’s founders, educational materials on gender fluidity and a crusade against “whiteness.”
The White House ordered a comprehensive internal review of exhibits and materials at the Smithsonian Institution last August, placing a large emphasis on ensuring “alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism.”
Lonnie Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian, told CNN in a May interview that the institution has maintained its autonomy even as it has “given everything that’s been asked” by the White House for its review.
After largely staying out of the public eye, Bunch recently helped curate an exhibition — a display to mark America’s 250th birthday. The White House report, however, criticizes the museum’s leadership for “intentionally withholding and subverting” the nation’s central story. The report says that the museum intentionally veers away from an “America First” viewpoint in history.
Bunch, a historian and the first Black American to serve as head of the Smithsonian, said in May that the administration did not play any part in his thinking or selections for the “American Aspirations” exhibitition at the Smithsonian castle that celebrated the nation’s 250th birthday.
“My goal is that history is driven by scholarship, not partisanship,” he said. “The Smithsonian always does its own scholarship. It’s always driven by that. We have always worked with different administrations, but it’s always about what our scholarship tells us.”
Folarin Balogun of the United States during the FIFA World Cup 2026 match against Australia on June 19. (Al Sermeno/ISI Photos/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
Folarin Balogun of the United States during the FIFA World Cup 2026 match against Australia on June 19. (Al Sermeno/ISI Photos/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
By Wayne Sterling, Betsy Klein, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump’s role in FIFA’s stunning decision to allow striker Folarin Balogun to be eligible to play against Belgium on Monday in Seattle is under the microscope.
A source familiar with the matter told CNN on Sunday that Trump spoke with FIFA President Gianni Infantino this week after Balogun’s red card and asked the FIFA leader to review the call. On Sunday afternoon, soccer’s governing body announced it was using an obscure rule to suspend Balogun’s automatic one-match ban for one year, allowing the striker to play against Belgium in the Round of 16.
The news that the 25-year-old forward would no longer serve an automatic one-match suspension following a straight red card during the US’ 2-0 Round of 32 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina came as a shock. For days, the US and its fans had operated under the assumption that there was no mechanism for the striker to have his suspension erased.
Then came a report in The Athletic, followed by an official statement from FIFA, that reprieve had been granted. The international governing body’s disciplinary committee elected to utilize Article 27 of its code, which allows the judicial body to fully or partially suspend the implementation of an on-pitch disciplinary measure under a probationary period.
There’s precedent for such a move, but not under extraordinary circumstances such as this. Balogun was sent off in the 64th minute following a VAR review for a challenge that stepped on the ankle of Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemovic—an offense classified under “serious foul play.”
The striker has been the focal point of Mauricio Pochettino’s high-pressing attack, establishing himself as the team’s top scorer of the tournament with three goals in four matches. He scored in the first half against Bosnia and Herzegovina before his exit.
It was an offense that would have seen Balogun miss Monday’s match before FIFA’s intervention. Now, the one-match ban is suspended, according to the committee, “for a probationary period of one year.”
This means that the red card remains on Balogun’s record, buthis mandatory match suspension is put on hold. If he commits another infringement of a similar nature during the period, the suspension will be immediately reinstated alongside any new penalties.
Belgium’s soccer federation, the RBFA, confirmed in a statement that it has appealed the decision and “challenge [Balogun’s] eligibility for the upcoming match.”
US Soccer expressed satisfaction with the outcome while keeping the squad’s eyes on the prize.
“We accept the decision of the Disciplinary Committee and are pleased that Folarin Balogun is eligible to compete tomorrow,” US Soccer said in a statement on Sunday. “Our full attention is focused on the Round of 16 match against Belgium in Seattle, and we look forward to the continued support of our amazing fans.”
While speaking to reporters on Sunday, Pochettino celebrated FIFA’s decision by calling it “fair.” The 54-year-old also said he wasn’t personally involved in the situation to overturn the red card.
“We were punished enough against Bosnia and Herzegovina to play with 10 men for 30 minutes, in a decision that was completely unfair. It’s not only because I’m the head coach of the USA national team, I need to defend my side. … 99.9% (of people) agree it was an unfair red card. Maybe today we were lucky.”
Meanwhile, European soccer governing body UEFA – of which Belgium is a member – expressed its “disbelief” at the decision.
“Yesterday’s decision to suspend for a probationary period of a year the implementation of the one-match automatic suspension following the red card issued to the player Folarin Balogun crossed a red line,” UEFA said in a statement to CNN Sports.
“Football, like any other sports, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition. Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not.
“When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined. … We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.”
Trump’s intervention in the spotlight
Such an incredible reversal on a key decision for a World Cup host country would always invite skepticism. But Trump’s role – especially given his tight relationship with Infantino – will only heighten the scrutiny.
Trump’s call to Infantino happened days before the decision to suspend the one-match ban was announced, the source familiar said.
Trump took to Truth Social to applaud FIFA’s decision.
“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” he posted.
Now more questions will be raised about how involved the president was in influencing FIFA’s ruling.
FIFA even went so far as to bestow a “Peace Prize” award on Trump at the World Cup draw late last year. The move was widely viewed as an attempt to flatter the American president and compensate after his failure to secure a long-desired Nobel Peace Prize.
A representative from FIFA initially did not respond to a request for comment on whether the White House was involved in the decision to allow Balogun to play. CNN has since reached out to FIFA about the reporting over Trump’s call to Infantino.
The USA’s opponents on Monday expressed astonishment at the news and said they are reviewing options moving forward.
“The decision is in direct contradiction with the provisions of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Competition Regulations,” the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) said in a statement Sunday. “In order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport, both at this FIFA World Cup and at future editions of the tournament, the RBFA is investigating all potential options.”
Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia was also critical of FIFA while speaking to reporters ahead of Monday’s match.
“I didn’t know in the FIFA offices the 5th of July corresponded to the 1st of April. In Europe, it was a discovery for me. I think you should refer to the statement… I think a lot of things are in there,” Garcia said.
“The Belgian federation does not defend itself, it does not defend the national team, it defends football in general. It defends its integrity. It defends its ethics.”
Pochettino defended Garcia’s comments, calling him a “great coach” and “great person.”
“I know Rudi (Garcia), I love Rudi … Of course he’s going to defend his side.”
Following the ‘Ronaldo Precedent’
This is not the first time FIFA has used Article 27 to clear a player in time for major World Cup action. In November, Portuguese captain Cristiano Ronaldo faced a standard three-match ban for violent conduct after receiving a straight red card for an elbow against the Republic of Ireland during a qualifier.
After serving just one match of that ban against Armenia, FIFA’s disciplinary committee commuted the final two games of his suspension to a one-year probation period, citing his historically clean record. That decision kept Ronaldo eligible for Portugal’s opening group matches in this 2026 tournament.
FIFA’s leniency with Balogun marks a similar use of discretionary power, keeping one of the host nation’s brightest stars on the pitch when it matters most.
This is story has been updated with additional information.
As Americans celebrate the nation's 250th birthday, this commentary argues the country should look beyond competing political commemorations and honor Crispus Attucks, the formerly enslaved sailor whose death in the Boston Massacre made him the first casualty of the American Revolution—and a symbol of the nation's unfinished pursuit of freedom. Credit: Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images
As Americans celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday, this commentary argues the country should look beyond competing political commemorations and honor Crispus Attucks, the formerly enslaved sailor whose death in the Boston Massacre made him the first casualty of the American Revolution—and a symbol of the nation’s unfinished pursuit of freedom. Credit: Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images
Division is a word that stands in stark contrast to the ideals inherent to the United States of America, but it has become an operative one for Donald Trump and his administration.
Even as the nation gathers to celebrate its 250th birthday, we witness an insuperable divide, keenly illustrated in the notion of two differing commemorations. One is “America 250” and the other “Freedom 250.”
The latter was initiated by Trump to counter the prior one established by Congress in 2016 as the official, nonpartisan commission and often cited as “America’s Block Party.”
In 2025, Trump issued an executive order, thereby creating an arm of his administration‘s Task Force 250. What we have, as one pundit put it, is one birthday and two planners.
First to Die for His Country
Of course, early on, the country observed that someone else’s birthday was in the mix when Ultimate Fighting Championship events were staged on the South Lawn of the White House on June 14.
This was just another blatant example of his egomania, his narcissism that has imperiled us since the inauguration of his second term. We have, in these pages, posted countless critiques of his tyranny of monarchy, and there is so much more to be said as we endure his assault on our democratic rights.
The soldiers shot, and five bodies fell. The first to die was a fifty-year-old former slave, either a Black or Indian mulatto sailor named Crispus Attucks.Kenneth C. Davis, author, “Don’t Know Much About History — Everything You Need to Know about American History but Never Learned”
Evidence of this occurs daily — the evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, the suspension of the TPS that threatens the deportation of Haitians and Syrians, and at the same time opening our portals to allegedly racially embattled white South Africans, the militarization of our streets with ICE agents, ending the Constitutional guarantees of birthright, an unsanctioned and reckless war with Iran, and ad infinitum.
So you have your choice as to which of the two parties to hang your hat, commit your loyalty, and attend. What we are proposing is a third option — let’s celebrate the birthday of Crispus Attucks, the first to fall in the Boston Massacre in 1770.
Sailor, Whaler, Patriot
circa 1770: A speculative portrait of American patriot, Crispus Attucks (circa 1723 – 1770), possibly a runaway slave, who was killed by British troops in the Boston Massacre in 1770, becoming the first American to be killed in the American Revolution. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)
There is still debate about his ancestry, whether he was Black, Native American, or a bit of both. To a certain degree, that is inconsequential when you consider he escaped from bondage and ended up among those protesting the presence of British soldiers in Boston. According to the best records, he was born in 1723, predating the Declaration of Independence by 53 years.
Before and after his enslavement, Attucks worked as a sailor and whaler, and sometimes on the docks. One of my favorite accounts of his courage and death was written by historian Kenneth C. Davis in his book, “Don’t Know Much About History — Everything You Need to Know about American History but Never Learned.”
“Early in March 1770,” the book reads, “a group of ropemakers fought with a detachment of soldiers who were taking their jobs, and all around Boston, angry encounters between soldiers and citizens became more frequent. Tensions mounted until March 5, where a mob, many of them hard-drinking waterfront workers, confronted a detachment of nine British soldiers”
“Confronted by a taunting mob calling for their blood, the soldiers grew…nervous. It only took the word ‘fire,’ and most likely yelled by one of the crowd, to ignite the situation. The soldiers shot, and five bodies fell. The first to die was a fifty-year-old former slave, either a Black or Indian mulatto sailor named Crispus Attucks.”
Cries for Justice and Freedom
Thus began the Revolutionary War, the subsequent rise of the so-called founding fathers (many of them slave holders), and those hallowed but unfulfilled words of the Declaration of Independence.
The call to honor Attucks’ place in the nation’s history gives resonance to the millions of enslaved African Americans, the decimation of Native Americans, and their ongoing cry for justice and total freedom.
Added to this cry is the demand for reparations, an end to the electoral college, expansion of the Supreme Court, and erasure of the unitary executive theory, the constitutional law that Article II of the Constitution vests all executive power directly in the president. Already, the current president is invested with far too much unchecked authority.
We are not sure of the date of Attucks’s birth, so we have made it July 4, 1776. Let us hope and pray it doesn’t take 250 more years to obtain our meager demands. On that day, we can truly celebrate an undivided United States.
