The death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department is a tragedy and a travesty, an act of unconscionable violence from people we trust to protect and serve our communities.
What makes his death worse, however, is that his circumstances are not unique. Every day across America, Black communities are terrorized by the police, victims of brutality committed under the color of law. Such heinous acts should be punished as the crimes they are, but all too often, perpetrators of police brutality receive no more than a slap on the wrist.
“Change depends on people knowing the truth. Change depends on people speaking that truth out loud. That’s what movements do. Movements educate people to the truth. They pass along information and ideas that many others do not know, and they cause them to ask questions, to challenge their own long-held beliefs. Movements are the way ordinary people get more freedom and justice. Movements are how we keep a check on power and those who abuse it.”
Unita Blackwell, Politician and Activist.
