Forbes has an article showing photos and descriptions of the protests that are happening all over the world in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Upwards of tens of thousands of people showed up for protests and marches in London, England; Paris, France; Brisbane, Australia; Rome, Italy; Berlin and Cologne, Germany; Tokyo, Japan; and the Palestinian territories. How cool is it to see Palestinian protesters holding signs saying (in English) “Black Lives Matter”.
Other highlights:
- Bristol, England, where a statue of a 17th century slave trader was toppled and thrown in the local river.
- Brussels, Belgium, where protesters climbed a statue of King Leopold II while waving the flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC was a colony under Leopold, who inflicted countless atrocities.
And of course, there were massive , but generally peaceful protests in the US. This included an estimated 100,000 to 200,0000 people at the newly named Black Lives Matter plaza in DC, which was attended by civil rights leader John Lewis (D-GA). There were so many people you could hardly see the two-block-long “Black Lives Matter” that the mayor had commissioned to be painted on the street.
Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) marched in protest with around 1000 evangelical leaders in DC, singing “This Little Light of Mine“. Romney also tweeted a photo of his father, George Romney, participating in a Civil Rights march in the 60s when he was governor of Michigan.
In Philadelphia the protests stretched for over a mile, and a black couple finished getting married and joined the protest, walking hand-in-hand and holding their fists in the air.
Click the link at the top of this post to see all the photos and tweets. It warmed my heart to see the world joining in solidarity with American protesters. We may come out of this mess in one piece after all, and maybe even steer US Justice onto a better path than what we have now:
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I get chills reading these stories. I so want equality for all. That is what John Brown fought for. And his grandfather (also John Brown) was my five times. And my two times Great Henry Wise was governor of Virginia at the time and signed the hanging decree and was there at the hanging and still thought John Brown was a mighty man.
I read again this morning (on E-V) about a young black man who didn’t know if he would vote as he had seen no differences.
My story was going into a clinic (I’ll tell this over and over) in 2008 and accosting a young black man. “Are you registered to vote?” Was my opening line. “Well, he said,” my father is from South Carolina, and he says no black man is ever going to be President.” I just hope if he skipped that election, he has voted in every election after.