Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter!

Posted on 2020 June 6

I joined the protests again today. My heart hurts to think that #BlackLivesMatter still has to be said.

I have never forgotten about Philando Castile, John Crawford III, and Tamir Rice. I’ll never get the videos of their murders out of my head.

There was no reason for any of them to die

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Philando_Castile - murdered for following the law
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_John_Crawford_III - murdered for playing with toys, only given seconds to ‘surrender’ while he was on the phone
  • A second person, Angela Williams, died after suffering a heart attack while fleeing from the shooting.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Tamir_Rice - murdered for playing with toys in a park, only given seconds to understand why a cop was screaming at a 12-year-old boy

So many more lives than just these three been lost to police brutality and racially-motivated discrimination.

I Can’t Breathe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_George_Floyd

George Floyd didn’t need to die. He didn’t deserve to choke to death in the street.

How can someone hold their knee on someone’s neck for 9 minutes? How can someone just kill someone right there in the street?

I don’t understand, but I see you, I hear you, and I stand with you. Black lives matter.

#8CantWait

https://8cantwait.org/

This is a great resource for the concrete changes that we can demand to be implemented.

All of these murders could have been avoided, nobody needed to die for any of this. Police forces should de-escalate instead of escalate. Lethal force should never be the first option.

My Experience with the Police

Each time I was pulled over while driving.

Black Lives Matter

This isn’t allowed to be normal. We can’t be silent about it. Black lives matter!