Even if there are not tens of thousands of people flooding the streets as they did in the early summer, protesters continue, unafraid of the police presence and ruthless in the face of possible coronavirus infections.
Each one has his own reason. Some personally experienced the sting of police brutality. Some demand that things have to change.
Because of their unique motivations, everyone agreed: This work has become a vital part of who they are.
Here are three reasons why they still march.
To keep the momentum
Before the pandemic, Tyrell Taylor, 22, and 12 of his friends used to get together and do their best to stay active. Those meetings stopped when New York began to close in March.
To overcome boredom, they formed a group called MBR, or Mind, Body, Results, for organized bike rides.
After George Floyd’s death, those leisurely walks became acts of protest.
The group meets every Friday at 6 in the afternoon with some exceptions. They have occupied the Brooklyn Bridge, Washington Square Park and Times Square, among other iconic places in New York. In their biggest protest, Taylor and her friends rode with 1,000 riders.
Jamming the streets with bicycles is disturbing and peaceful, Taylor, a graduate student at Medaille College, told CNN. Their bikes have become their platforms for anti-racism.
“Our main focus is to be a community, a family,” said Taylor, “without that, we are just a group of strangers yelling ‘Black Lives Matter’ and that is not what we want to create, we want people to know and be familiar with. what they will achieve in the protest. “
Taylor has had to cancel the protests at times, but the group would return stronger the following week. Quitting smoking would mean pulling nearly two months of progress, Taylor said.
“I would say that even if you feel like it’s getting repetitive, if you’re getting tired of doing it, keep doing it, because they’re waiting for you to stop,” he said. “And knowing that they are waiting for us to stop makes us want to go twice as hard.”
Taylor said she believes the movement for black lives is now reaching its peak.
“People are falling, but it’s our job to keep this peak.”
Be an ally
“You have to understand that this is a marathon, not a sprint,” he told CNN. “I would say that focus and organization are actually much stronger than on day one.”
Kilgore, who is white, said his community appears to be progressive, but the Black Lives Matter movement has exposed inequalities in education, income and opportunity within the city.
“Racism is still deeply rooted in all institutions in this city,” he said.
It’s a start, said Kilgore, who supports the police department’s outlay, but “not enough to quench people’s thirst for true equality.” The announcement came at the same time that police began fining protesters for blocking the street.
“I plan to stay the course as long as it takes to make a radical change here in St. Pete,” he said. “I’m in this for the long haul.”
To disrupt the status quo
Fargo, North Dakota, did not have a formal Black Lives Matter chapter until a few days after George Floyd’s death, when four residents came together to found the organization’s Fargo-Moorhead branch.
They have had to become a fast family.
Before joining the Black Lives Matter board, they advocated for the lives of blacks in Fargo in different ways: Kiara Jackson is president of the Black Student Association at North Dakota State University, where she met Frederick Edwards Jr. , board member and graduate student. There is Faith Dixon, who runs a daycare and non-profit organization in Fargo, and Jamaal Abegaz works with the local Democratic Socialist group.
Due to their differences in background and age, they are a formidable team. They have led several marches since May 30 in their predominantly white community and have met with local officials to advocate for change.
Their work energizes them. It also made them targets, they told CNN.
They have been told that their protests “make the people look bad.” Abegaz said he received death threats.
“The simple fact of saying that things must change and that we are not going to accept the status quo that endangers our lives,” Abegaz said.
Dixon said they have been painted as the enemy, intimidating residents to join them.
“We are citizens of this community we love,” said Dixon. “I own a business here. Our families are here. Why would we want a city we care so much about to be ruined? We are four people who have the right to speak and have the right to protest, and why is it such a big fight just to do that? ”
Protesters will hold as many protests as necessary for those changes to take place, Dixon said. Their work has become part of who they are.
“We are organizing for our lives,” said Abegaz. “We have to live, so we are not going to live under someone’s boot.”
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