Tensions in Los Angeles escalated Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to President Donald Trump’s extraordinary deployment of the National Guard, blocking off a major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd.

Many protesters dispersed as evening fell and police declared an unlawful assembly, a precursor to officers moving in and making arrests of people who don’t leave. Some of those remaining threw objects at police from behind a makeshift barrier that spanned the width of a street and others hurled chunks of concrete, rocks, electric scooters and fireworks at California Highway Patrol officers and their vehicles parked on the closed southbound 101 Freeway. Officers ran under an overpass to take cover. Read more at www.thegrio.com.

Rising Democratic star U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas is seeking a powerful congressional role that would position her as one of her party’s most influential leaders. In a letter to the Democratic House Caucus, Crockett announced her candidacy to be the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the main investigative body of the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Our country is in an existential crisis driven by an out-of-control Executive with a flagrant disregard for our Constitution, our way of governance, and our very way of life as citizens of a democratic republic,” the 44-year-old congresswoman said in the letter. “We must pull back the curtain on the unmitigated chaos under Trump 2.0 and translate our findings to the American people in a way they can digest.” Read more at www.thegrio.com.

Despite the promise of equal opportunity heralded by the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, a new WalletHub report reveals that America’s educational system remains critically unequal—especially for Black students. The disparities, experts say, have only widened in recent years, worsened by former President Donald Trump’s dismantling of federal education funding and his administration’s attacks on teaching real American history. WalletHub’s analysis ranked states by racial equality in education, using key metrics such as gaps in graduation rates, college degree attainment, and standardized test scores between Black and white students. Wyoming, New Mexico, and West Virginia top the list for equity, while Connecticut, Minnesota, and Wisconsin rank lowest. According to the report, school districts with predominantly white students receive $23 billion more in funding per year than districts with majority nonwhite students. Read more at www.blackpressusa.com.

By NICHOLAS WU and HAILEY FUCHS

Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett officially kicked off a bid to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, making her the fourth contestant in a crowded race to succeed the late Rep. Gerry Connolly.

“Our country is in an existential crisis driven by an out-of-control Executive with a flagrant disregard for our Constitution, our way of governance, and our very way of life as citizens of a democratic republic,” she said in a letter to Democratic colleagues obtained by POLITICO. “We must pull back the curtain on the unmitigated chaos under Trump 2.0 and translate our findings to the American people in a way they can digest.” Read more at www.politico.com.

Longtime activist Dr. Rev. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, was arrested for a second time in the last two months at the U.S. Capitol as he and hundreds protested in Washington, D.C., against controversial budget legislation backed by President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

“This is a big, ugly, deadly, destructive bill,” Barber told theGrio a couple of hours after being released from police custody on Monday. Read more at www.thegrio.com.

Tulsa’s new mayor on Sunday proposed a $100 million private trust as part of a reparations plan to give descendants of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre scholarships and housing help in a city-backed bid to make amends for one of the worst racial attacks in U.S. history.

The plan by Mayor Monroe Nichols, the first Black mayor of Oklahoma’s second-largest city, would not provide direct cash payments to descendants or the last two centenarian survivors of the attack that killed as many as 300 Black people. He made the announcement at the Greenwood Cultural Center, located in the once-thriving district of North Tulsa that was destroyed by a white mob. Read more at www.thegrio.com.