Recently, the nation has ignited in outrage as the horrible tragedies of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd (and others) have come to light. On Sunday, we attended a protest in Ashfield, MA where hundreds of people gathered with signs to march from the Post Office to the library. Chants like “The people united will never be defeated” and “Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Systemic racism has got to go!” filled the streets as people gathered to show support. The protest concluded with a moment of silence that lasted eight minutes and forty-six seconds (the amount of time during which Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd’s neck).
Protests have been held in all fifty of the United States of America and in countless other countries across the globe. This worldwide statement to stand in solidarity with Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) shows that these deaths will not simply go by the wayside as more casualties, but act as a catalyst to dig up the roots of systemic racism from our societal structure.
These reverberations of protest have already shown the power of the people, with Derek Chauvin’s murder charge against George Floyd being increased to 2nd degree and the other three officers Keung, Lane, and Thao being charged with felony offenses on June 3rd.
Demands to “defund the police” have led nine members of the Minneapolis city council to pledge their commitment to dismantling their police department—the very one that caused Floyd’s death. Lisa Bender (the Minneapolis city council president) stated:
“Our commitment is to end policing as we know it and to recreate systems of public safety that actually keep us safe.”
Jeremiah Ellison, a Minneapolis city councilman, also spoke out about the issue. In a tweet about the city’s intention to dismantle the police department, he wrote,
“And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue it back together. We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response.”
While the officers involved in Floyd’s death have had their charges increased, those involved in the shooting of Breonna Taylor have yet to be taken into custody. Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove, were placed on administrative reassignment, but none have been criminally charged. The New York Times in their article “Why Aren’t We All Talking About Breonna Taylor?” brings attention to the fact that Taylor’s case remains largely disconnected with the broader national conversation that’s happening around George Floyd.
According to Women of Color in the United States: Quick Take (2020), black women earned $0.62 for every dollar a white, non-Hispanic male earned in 2019. And according to a 2017 report on “The Status of Black Women in the US,” black women remain underrepresented in the political system. They are also more likely to work jobs that lack essential benefits and protections. More black women live in poverty than ANY other group. Black women also experience higher rates of intimate partner violence, and the gender barriers in access to health care are higher for black women than for white women.
Andrea Ritchie, author of Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color explains her call for more attention to be paid to the stories of Breonna and other black women:
We’re not trying to compete with Floyd’s story, we’re trying to complete the story.
Social media users have been adamant that the conversation about race is only beginning. Many have urged white users not to return to their normal posts, but to continue to share resources and information related to the fight against racial oppression. Black people have never been able to simply return to a life of convenience, and for white users to do so is insensitive. As we work to dismantle systemic racism, let’s remember that ALL BLACK LIVES MATTER—Black women and members of the LGBTQ+ community included.
As we continue the fight for racial justice, Dwayne Reed, a teacher in Chicago, leaves us with an important reminder:
White supremacy won’t die until White people see it as a White issue they need to resolve rather than a Black issue they need to empathize with.
No Comments