RELEASE: Iowans Speak Out Against New Laws – blogforiowa.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from blogforiowa.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Organizers and speakers at a Des Moines vigil Thursday had a clear message: Now is the time to speak up, show up, take action and join the Black community in the struggle against injustice and racism, they said.
Speakers such as Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad, D-Des Moines, referenced the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. On Tuesday, Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd.
Abdul-Samad and others at Thursday s vigil said the guilty verdicts don t amount to justice for Black America. Rather, it only was a step toward accountability. We don t have justice because we don t have justice for Breonna Taylor . We don t have justice all the way back from Emmett Till, Abdul-Samad said.
IPR
The speakers talked about continuing the fight toward equity for Black Iowans at the Black vigil in Des Moines last night. We re going to continue to do this. This group of people you see here, we re not tired, no, we re jaded, Reverend Rob Johnson (second from left) said. When I say Black lives, you say matter! Black Lives!
Rev. Rob Johnson bobbed his fist as more than one hundred people responded the way he instructed last night at a vigil in a Des Moines park to support central Iowa s Black community.
The vigil was meant to serve as a reminder to people to continue acknowledging the struggle of Black Americans and to work to fight inequities. Many speakers talked about former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdict in the murder of George Floyd.
DES MOINES Ras Smith watched as the guilty verdict was read. His initial reaction, he said, was a sense of relief that justice had been served for George Floyd, a Black man from Minneapolis who was killed while in police custody.
Smithâs relief turned to a sense of confusion, he said, when on the TV screen he saw live video of people celebrating in the streets of Minneapolis.
âWeâre celebrating justice as if itâs this rare thing that we rarely get to taste,â said Smith, a state legislator and Black man from Waterloo. âWeâre celebrating like weâre feeling vindicated, that our cries to America are finally being acknowledged. (Itâs) kind of like, âI told you so. This is as bad as weâve been telling you.â And thatâs hard for me. â¦
Reaction from the guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin case kimt.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kimt.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.