But then Floyd was killed in Minneapolis, prompting what the organiser called the “resurgence of Black Lives Matter”, and chapters across the US saw more people want to get involved. BLMLA also convened a coalition of groups to create the People’s Budget, which called “for investments to ensure Black residents have resources in light of COVID-19”.Ībdullah said that initially, very few elected officials responded to the demands. “One of the big priorities with the COVID-19 pandemic was really this history and legacy of medical racism.”Īfter initially demanding data that examined how the virus was affecting different communities, BLMLA, along with a coalition of other social justice groups and community leaders, issued the “Black Los Angeles Demands in Light of COVID-19 and Rates of Black Death”, which laid out policy demands for elected leaders. “We’ve never been just about ending police violence, but about disrupting state-sanctioned violence against Black people,” Abdullah told Al Jazeera by phone. But then, the coronavirus pandemic hit, disproportionately affecting Black communities, and BLMLA knew immediately it had to take action. Demonstrators kneel during a protest against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in the Harlem neighbourhood of Manhattan, New York City on June 5 īuilding on the work of previous years, Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles (BLMLA), the first chapter of BLM, says the group began 2020 thinking it was going to be an opportunity to usher in more transformative change through November’s election. And organisers have sought to “to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes”. Protests under the Black Lives Matter banner have rocked streets in cities big and small. Since then, #BlackLivesMatter has borne a global network, other organisations and dozens of local BLM chapters across the United States. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement was founded by three Black women – Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi – after the acquittal of the man who shot dead 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2013. From police to COVID: ‘Disrupting state-sanctioned violence’ It is a sentiment echoed by Black Lives Matter organisers across the country as they reflect on a year that has brought much pain, but also numerous achievements, and as they chart their priorities moving into 2021. Seeing protesters gather day-after-day “makes me know that what happens in this part of resistance work and fighting for our freedom, and this continual process of seeing people develop these spaces, that we’re doing exactly what we need to do,” Helm said. The protests often bring people from Black Lives Matter, Louisville Urban League, Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and other groups. The groups sometimes number in the hundreds other times, only a few gather in a downtown park, renamed by protesters as “Injustice Square”. Protesters, organisers and activists have gathered in some form on most, if not all, of the more than 200 days since then. In this file photo from May 29, people gather in the street during a protest against the deaths of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police and George Floyd by Minneapolis police, in Louisville, Kentucky It was a night that shook Louisville, and for protesters, it was only day one. Many people suffered injuries, including seven who were wounded when someone opened fire into the crowd. Some protesters destroyed property and set fires. Police, dressed in riot gear, fired tear gas and other projectiles. Hundreds of protesters rallied in the city’s downtown, demanding justice for Taylor, who was killed when plain-clothes Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers barged into her home in the early morning hours while serving a “no-knock” warrant.Īs the sun went down, tensions rose. “I had to do direct action training with them on the fly,” the 40-year-old recalled. It was not only important for the new people, especially Louisville’s youth, who joined the protest to stay as safe as possible, but also for demonstrators to stay in the streets, Helm, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Louisville, said. Not long after Taylor’s story gained national attention, the world watched footage on May 25 of George Floyd screaming, “I can’t breathe” and crying out for his mother under the knee of a white police officer before going motionless in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Louisville, Kentucky – When mass protests erupted in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 28, one of Chanelle Helm’s biggest worries was for the young people who took to the streets.Īnger had been building over the March 13 police killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in Louisville’s West End.
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