Twelve year old Keedron Bryant's song "I Just Want to Live" opened our ears, our minds and our hearts.
Our youth have emotions to express - many live in fear, are angry, hurt or confused; many are hopeful and determined. And many have stories to tell.
THIS IS YOUR STAGE.
CRIME:
Black Americans are more likely than white Americans to be arrested. Once arrested, they are more likely to be convicted, and once convicted, they are more likely to experience lengthy prison sentences.[6]
EDUCATION: (More data to come)
EMPLOYMENT, EARNINGS:
In the US, Black workers are less likely than white workers to be employed in a job that is consistent with their level of education.[11]
HEALTHCARE:
From 2013 to 2017, white patients in the US received better quality health care than about 34% of Hispanic patients, 40% of Black patients, and 40% of Native American patients.[4]
Black women are 3 to 4 times more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death than white women, even at similar levels of income and education.[5]
“The recent wave of worldwide protests are about George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. Tony McDade. James Scurlock. And so many unnamed individuals ... They’re also about institutional racism in education and healthcare. They’re about police brutality. Mass incarceration. The income gap. Media bias. The justice system. The fact that COVID-19 is killing Black Americans at a higher rate than any other group. They’re about the injustices, fear, and violence that Black Americans and other people of color face on a daily basis. And they’re not just about the last week or about recent decades, but instead about centuries-long oppression and the equally long fight against it.” DoSomething.org
“COVID-19 is a glaring example of how Black, Brown, Indigenous and people of color are hit hardest by social determinants of health." Tina Smith (D-Minn.) While it’s often believed that good health is only due to medical care, clinical treatment accounts for only 10 to 20 percent of an individual’s overall health. Meanwhile, around 80 to 90 percent of healthy outcomes are driven by social determinants. Learn about social determinants of health (SDOH), which are the result of institutional racism embedded in our society including in housing, employment, education, health care and more.
Visit this page for a wealth of information about the issues and how you can "Be the change."
Visit the Annie E. Casey Foundation for definitions and other educational resources for racial justice - this is one of many resouces we will curate and present on this page.
George Floyd
George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin as he kneeled on Mr. Floyd's neck - while he laid with his hands cuffed behind his back, face down - choking him for nearly NINE minutes.
THE MAIN ISSUES:
Mr. Floyd likely would not have even been suspected by the store clerk, nor would he have been handcuffed by the police for an alleged fake $20 bill, if he were a white man. That, very simply, is racism.
He certainly would not have been killed for allegedly trying to use a fake $20 bill, and the other three officers probably would have intervened, if Mr. Floyd were a white man. And that, in a nutshell, is what Black Lives Matter is all about.
Onlookers were helpless. If you are a person of color and you attempt to intervene in a police action, you will likely be tased and arrested at the least, and probably worse. There was nothing they could do except plead, film and pray.
While Chauvin was finally arrested and charged with 3rd degree murder (now upgraded to 2nd degree), the remaining three officers -- who CHOSE not to protect Mr. Floyd, even though they had a legal duty to do so -- were not arrested until June 3rd.
This, combined with numerous additional cases of black lives lost such as Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery at the hands of corrupt police officers, necessitates changes to the criminal justice system
PEACEFUL PROTESTS are called for and dominate the day, but some infiltrate them to steal and light fires, to cause chaos, frame the Black Lives Matter movement, get people to turn on each other and distract us from the lawful and largely police supported protests.
That's right - the vast majority of police officers, police chiefs, state police, mayors and governors across the country agree that what was done to George Floyd was unwarranted and unlawful. They have the courage to speak out against corrupt police, and they kneel with the protestors in their right to demand justice.
And, as the image of protesters shows, this is a battle for all to fight. We must be in this together.
Breonna Taylor
Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old unarmed black EMT was fatally shot March 13 by police in Louisville, Ky while they carried out a search warrant on the wrong apartment.
Breonna was asleep when three plain-clothed officers barged into her and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker's home around midnight, using a "no-knock warrant" that didn't name either of them. In fact, the suspects they sought were already in police custody.
Kenneth thought they were intruders and fired a warning shot with his licensed gun. At least 20 bullets were fired by police with eight hitting Breonna and killing her.
Kenneth was charged with attempted murder, but that charge was finally dropped only after his 911 call was released telling the dispatcher, “I don’t know what happened … somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend.”
The officers who killed Breonna were not wearing body cameras. Two of them had a documented history of violence and brutality.
As of June 8, the three officers involved in her shooting are still on administrative leave, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. But they have not been charged with any crimes.