John, yesterday Duante Wright was killed by police in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park, about 10 miles from where George Floyd was murdered last summer. As you recall, I was just in Minneapolis two weeks ago, and I can tell you the tension is high.
The media reports that Duante was pulled over because he had “air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror.” He was unarmed, and within minutes, he was dead.
This doesn’t happen to white people.
When was the last time an unarmed white man pulled over for a minor traffic violation was murdered by a cop? It doesn’t happen.
This is why we say Black Lives Matter. This is why we scream it. The scream by three Black women organizers that started as a hashtag on Twitter in response to the murder of Trayvon Marting and aquittal of George Zimmerman launched a global movement for change.
On the heels of yet another senseless killing of an unarmed Black man, DFA had already scheduled the opportunity to talk to one of co-founders of #BlackLivesMatter about her journey and her new book with a first-ever DFA premiere event.
We are pleased to launch the DFA Book Club with Alcia Garza’s “The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart”.
Alicia Garza will join us this Thursday for a powerful and important discussion and we want you to be there too. RSVP for the Zoom event now!
“This book is the story of an organizer who comes apart and is put back together many, many times…. It is not the story of Black Lives Matter, but it is a story that includes it, that attempts to help make sense of not only where it came from, but also the possibilities that it and movements like it hold for our collective future.” - Alicia Garza
As prosecutors begin to wrap up their case against disgraced former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, the very same Minneapolis coommunity is faced with another unarmed black man dead at the hands of the police. Duante Wright was only 20 years old.
At DFA, we scream their names.
You and I both know that there isn’t anything special about Minneapolis police. This is happening across the country in community after community. It’s been happening FOREVER.
I ask you to please join us for a conversation with Alicia Garza so we can continue to build our political will and knowledge with understanding and activism.
In The Purpose of Power, Alicia talks about the moment she’d had enough, in July 2013, after George Zimmerman was acquitted for the murder of Trayvon Martin. While the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter began as a simple statement meant as a call to action, Alicia talks about how BLM has grown to a global movement, with millions of supporters, thousands of demonstrations, and hundreds of volunteer run groups nationwide.
Alicia understands what it takes to build a movement (spoiler alert: it’s a lot more than just a hashtag) and this Thursday you’ll get a chance to be inspired by her story and learn from her experiences in this exclusive live chat. We'll be asking Alicia questions submitted by DFA members nationwide, so sign up to join us and submit your question too.
A Conversation with Alicia Garza
Author of "The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart"
Co-Founder of #BlackLivesMatter
Thursday April 15th
5:30 pm ET/2:30 pm PT
You don’t want to miss this event. I look forward to seeing you Thursday!
-Kelley
Kelley Jackson
Communications Director
Democracy for America
Thank you for being a member of Democracy for America.
Become a DFA Defender with monthly support of $15 or more today and we'll enter you into win a copy of The Purpose of Power signed by Alicia Garza as our free gift!
