On May 25, 2020, the nation ignited after a bystander posted a horrific video of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes.
Now the movement to uplift Black lives, and to defund and dismantle police departments where officers disproportionately kill and brutalize African-American men and women, has grown to a point where it can no longer be ignored.
We’ll hear from activists in Minneapolis, mourners in Houston, and we’ll go to our archives for an interview with the brother of Yuvette Henderson. She was killed by Emeryville police in 2015.
Special thanks to Davey D of Hard Knock Radio, and Rebecca McDonald from BFRESH Productions for allowing us to use field recordings from Minneapolis.
Featuring:
Stephen Jackson, George Floyd’s friend and former NBA player
Valarie Castile, BLM activist and Philando Castile’s mother
Lisa Bender, President of the Minneapolis City Council
Alicia Garza, Co-founder of Black Lives Matter
Brooke Williams, George Floyd’s niece
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas
Jamison Robinson, Yuvette Henderson’s brother
Rev. Al Sharpton
- Executive Director: Sonya Green
- Staff Producers: Anita Johnson, Monica Lopez, Salima Hamirani
- Web updates: Sabine Blaizin
- Director of Production Initiatives and Distribution: Lisa Rudman
Special thanks for recordings:
- Davey D, Hard Knock Radio
- Rebecca McDonald, BFRESH Productions
Music:
- “Black Ant”, Fater Lee
- “Arbic Tallow”, Blue Dot Sessions
- “Underwater”, Meydan
- “Surreal Johnny Ripper Remix”, Ouri
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We’ve borne witness to a chaotic first few months in Trump’s presidency.
Over the last months, each executive order has delivered shock and bewilderment — a core part of a strategy to make the right-wing turn feel inevitable and overwhelming. But, as organizer Sandra Avalos implored us to remember in Truthout last November, “Together, we are more powerful than Trump.”
Indeed, the Trump administration is pushing through executive orders, but — as we’ve reported at Truthout — many are in legal limbo and face court challenges from unions and civil rights groups. Efforts to quash anti-racist teaching and DEI programs are stalled by education faculty, staff, and students refusing to comply. And communities across the country are coming together to raise the alarm on ICE raids, inform neighbors of their civil rights, and protect each other in moving shows of solidarity.
It will be a long fight ahead. And as nonprofit movement media, Truthout plans to be there documenting and uplifting resistance.
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