May 25 is the fifth anniversary of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. Every day this week, the Equal Justice Society will share a remembrance of Mr. Floyd, examine the impact he had on this country, and renew our commitment to honor his legacy.
The murder of Mr. Floyd catapulted the Movement for Black Lives to a global reckoning, another cycle of history repeating itself over more than 400 years. In February 1965, 26-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson was part of a protest in Marion, Alabama, against the arrest of a local civil rights activist. An Alabama state trooper shot Jackson, who was shielding his mother from attacks. The killing of Jimmie Lee Jackson was the spark that led to the march from Selma to Montgomery, said the late Congressman John Lewis.
There was a lot of movement and promises made following Mr. Floyd’s murder. Five years later, many promises to repair historic and ongoing harms to Black people have been broken, and our very democracy is in grave peril. Equity is on the chopping block, books that encourage critical thought are being banned, and “radical justices are breaking with judicial norms and ignoring decades of legal precedent to impose their own right-wing agenda on our country and take away our freedoms.” (UFD)
Congressman Lewis said: “Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.”
EJS is making “good trouble” not only to defend and protect the hard-won gains, but to galvanize expansive transformation on many fronts, especially on repairing the harm. We continue to co-lead the new Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation, and Truth, a major force in the movement for reparations in California and nationally. Earlier this year, TIME recognized EJS President Lisa Holder, a former member of the California Reparations Task Force, by naming her to its 2nd annual ‘The Closers’ list recognizing 25 Black leaders working to end inequality.
You can join us in advancing reparations in California. Please ask your organization to endorse the historic California Reparations Task Force report: https://supportreparations.org/endorsements.
We are also asking organizations to contact California state legislators before May 23 in support of reparations bills.
We must fight on. We must remain engaged. We must embody the transformation we wish to see. We can’t give up. George Floyd is looking down on us from above.
EQUAL JUSTICE SOCIETY