Ten years ago: More than 2 million people along the Eastern Seaboard were ordered to move to safer ground as Hurricane Irene approached the coast. A Boko Haram sect member detonated a car loaded with explosives at the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, killing 25 people and wounding more than 100 others.
Five years ago: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick remained seated on the team’s bench rather than standing for the national anthem before the Niners played host to the Green Bay Packers in an exhibition game, saying he believed the United States was oppressing African Americans and other minorities.
One year ago: Seventeen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse was arrested in Illinois in the shooting deaths of two people and the wounding of another during a third night of protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake. (Rittenhouse, who said he was defending himself after the three men attacked him, is awaiting trial on charges including two homicide counts.) On the third night of their convention, Republicans led by Vice President Mike Pence aggressively defended law enforcement; the convention unfolded amid new protests against racial injustice. The U.N. children’s agency said at least a third of children around the world couldn’t access remote learning when the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools. All three scheduled NBA playoff games were postponed, with players choosing to boycott in their strongest statement yet against racial injustice. (The games resumed three days later, after players and owners agreed to expand initiatives, many tied to increased voting awareness and opportunities.)
