Today marks the 1000th entry in the End of the Rainbow Valley blog so it deserves a special post. Unfortunately it is a Monday, not the greatest day for readership so I just might end up posting this twice as it's that important. Perhaps you will agree and share...
You see this past Friday Natureman and I joined a couple hundred community members marching in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.
Our city's protest march occurred in the late afternoon beginning in a midtown La Crosse park marching a mile to a downtown park where the city's farmer's market was taking place.Participants brought/ shared signs to carry along the route.
People of different ages, races, religions, genders, socioeconomic groups made the walk.
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An organizer, a new Mom
Shaundel Spivey, who works with La Crosse Public School's Diversity was the impetus behind the march although he wasn't sure if the white community would show in order to voice their support regarding the injustice and inequality the black community here and everywhere are facing. He and four others discussed and planned the endeavor and within a week's time obtained permits and used Face Book to get the word out.
And the community did show, marched, chanted... and even sang with local folksinger John Smith who recently returned from celebrating political activist and legend folk singer Arlo Guthrie's life work. Smith led the crowd in singing Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land."
A march and a song are not going to solve the problem but they are steps in the right direction, bringing about recognition and showing solidarity with the Black Lives movement.
Below are the recently released Black Lives Matter Manifesto which includes 10 tenants to:
1. End "broken windows" policing, which aggressively polices minor crimes in an attempt to stop larger ones.
2. Use community oversight for misconduct rather than having the police department decide what consequences officers should face.
3. Make standards for reporting police use of deadly force
4. Independently investigate and prosecute police misconduct.
5. Have the racial makeup of police departments reflect the communities they serve.
6. Require officers to wear body cameras.
7. Provide more training for police officers.
8. End for-profit policing practices.
9. End the police use of military equipment.
10. Implement police union contracts that hold officers accountable for misconduct.
We must be part of the solution as we are responsible for
Fabulous post Karen!
ReplyDeleteKudos to you and your entire community!
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