BLACK LIVES MATTER
NO JUSTICE NO PEACE
In 2013, the community organizers Opal Tometi, Patrisse Cullors, and Alicia Garza started the Black Lives Matter movement. What began as a hashtag in response to Trayvon Martin’s death became a nationwide phenomenon, with protests in response to the killings of African-Americans and chapters across the country. Now, after the death of George Floyd, at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, and a week of nationwide protests to an extent unseen in a half century, Black Lives Matter is once again the biggest story in the country.
The Compton Cowboys, a coalition of local riders founded in 1988, trotted through South Los Angeles on horseback in a peace ride for George Floyd on June 7. The organization aims to uplift their local community through youth mentorship programs, and highlight the history of Black Americans in cowboy culture.
In front of the United States Embassy in Bogota, local protestors burned an American flag in solidarity with protesters stateside, while also denouncing the presence of U.S. troops in Colombia. Throughout the city, other protestors demanded justice for their own victims of police brutality and systemic racism, including Anderson Arboleda, who was killed by Colombian police in May after allegedly violating quarantine.
George Floyd Protests Around the World Are Calling for Racial Justice
Many videos and pictures surfaced of George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, thousands have participated in the Black Lives Matter protests. In Los Angeles, Athens, Tel Aviv, Sydney, and Mexico City, protestors have left their homes and taken to the streets amid the coronavirus pandemic to honor Floyd, to stand against racism, and to demand justice for others killed by the police.
Black Lives Matter protesters stage marches around the world. Thousands of protesters marched against police brutality and racism in Brussels, Belgium, on Sunday. The demonstration was about George Floyd, the black man killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when a police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.
