Four years ago, I took on the task to visually document what I perceived would be a pivotal time in American history. Ultimately it transformed into an historical worldwide campaign. There’s so much I could share, but will keep it as concise as I can to respect your time.
The Black Lives Matter movement was launched long before the murder of George Floyd. The acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in 2012 was the stimulus. Three Black women (Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi) galvanized to politically combat the prevalent senseless unprovoked killings of Black people by police. More details on Black Lives Matter’s origins are at this link.
Today’s newsletter is about the people who fought day in day out for social justice after George died. The cause for BLM, reignited by the widely viewed video of his murder on Monday, May 25th 2020.
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By Friday of that week, the first protest rallies and marches denouncing his murder began. The message from protestors was multi-pronged in their demands. Justice for George and others killed by police/end Qualified Immunity/enforce Police accountability. Defunding of over-bloated police budgets. Enhance community services and neighborhood investments with the “defunded” monies, among other important proposals.
With no let-up, that following Sunday, Generation Z Activists (Zoomers) gathered to coordinate their response and next steps. Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers brought their perspectives for next steps, but Zoomers didn’t agree. I didn’t see a consensus that day.
City government officials were working on the city budget for the following fiscal year. The Occupy City Hall encampment was created to put continual concerted pressure on council members to reduce the police budget by $1B USD, and redistribute those monies to other community agencies facing cuts and financial shortfalls. Read here for the finalized budget.
I believe the free time and public isolation of the pandemic provided an opportunity for people to gather in mass to fight for the injustices they witnessed. So, those who wouldn’t normally have time to be outside in support of the causes for the rallies and marches—did so. A multicultural, multigenerational, multiracial, worldwide diversity of concerned humans.
Marchers pause for 9 minutes 29 seconds on the Brooklyn Bridge.
The first anniversary march. The amount of time George was deprived of his ability to breathe was updated from 8 minutes 45 seconds, to 9 minutes 29 seconds.
Protest rally, and march for justice in the killing of Amir Locke by Minneapolis, MN SWAT during a no-knock raid in February 2022. After the above rally and march, I was no longer able to cover future rallies and marches due to financial resource concerns.
We’re witnessing so much devastation in our lives these days. I’m not typically one to focus on awful news, but to overlook this story in this week would be an injustice. With it being the fourth anniversary of George’s death, I needed to put forth this visual story as a reaffirmation of the people, places and events.
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I appreciate that you took time in your day to read this particular newsletter through.
Til next time…
Kenneth
Kenneth, our Seattle 4 yr anniversary is coming, the 30th of May our first major protest. I'll be sharing thoughts on that day. In the meantime, I am curious what you think the legacy is of the protests? Did they lead to lasting change? Police reform? All police reform measures here in Seattle hit a dead end. Not a complete loss, some changes occurred, but minuscule compared to the grievances the protests set out to address. Curious your thoughts.