Other memorials

Five years ago, on May 29, the people of Detroit took to the streets in a massive outpouring of grief and rage at the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. They joined what was to become the largest social movement in the history of this country. For 100 consecutive, contentious days, Detroit Will Breathe provided leadership for marches, meetings and teach ins.

Nearly eleven years ago Michael Brown was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, MO. His body was left in the streets for hours. The murder led to waves of protests that raised fundamental questions about race in this country. The movement brought forward a new generation of leaders. Kimberly Norwood, a Washington University law professor and editor of Ferguson’s Fault Lines: The Race Quake That Rocked a Nation, observed, “Ferguson gave birth to all kinds of young people who were committed to civil rights and social justice and representation.” 

Thirteen years ago, Trayvon Martin was killed on his way home from a convenience store by a wannabe police officer.  In a ten-year retrospective, Nailah Sumers-Polite, co-director of Dream Defenders said, “It was the thing that broke everybody, all at the same time…We’re the Trayvon Martin generation, we are the people who were moved into action because of it.”

When Trayvon’s killer was found not guilty, Alicia Garza posted a hashtag created by Patrisse Cullors and media strategist Ayo Tometi. The result was Black Lives Matter, a framework that inspired action, reflection, and efforts to transform policing and community life. 

Many of the same people incensed by Martin’s killing took to the streets to protest the death of Michael Brown. And Eric Garner. And Breonna Taylor. And the hundreds upon hundreds of people whose names we remember with sorrow and rage.

These mass movements for justice are entwined with the long development of democratic practices, freedom, and community responsibility. As Juliet Hooker, a political science professor at Brown University said, “Some of the movements where you see that the most amount of democratic energy and activity has been in movements for racial justice…These are the moments where you see ordinary citizens engaged in politics, trying to change policy, trying to address past wrongs."

The power of ordinary people to challenge directly, forcefully, and persistently injustice, dehumanization, and violence against people and places is the essence of a meaningful community life. It fuels the best of us and creates new values, ideas, and processes that can move us toward a better world.

It is precisely this potential for deep transformation toward justice and peace that terrifies those with power and privilege. They attempt to tell us protest does not matter, change is impossible. When that fails, they enact “emergency measures” designed to increase the use of police force and criminalize the efforts to control it.

The recent Executive Order called “Strengthening and Unleashing America’s Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens” is an effort to do exactly what it says. It further militarizes local law enforcement; squashes dissent and protects police officers from being held accountable for the use of deadly force.  It is quite clearly a framework for martial law. It makes efforts by local officials to control police power illegal.

We have a responsibility resist this order and to assert our right to control, define, and limit the use of local police forces. Efforts to increase accountability, to find alternatives to policing as a means for community safety, and to protect the rights essential to a free, safe and self-determined life are essential to our future.