This week, we mourn Daunte Wright, a 20 year-old Black man who was murdered by the police in Minnesota, and Dominique Lucious, a 26 year-old Black trans woman who was killed in Missouri. Here in New York City, we remember Ramarley Graham, who would have turned 28 yesterday.
We echo SURJ National in sharing the following words from Black Visions Collective, a Black-led, Queer and Trans centering organization in Minnesota whose mission is to organize powerful, connected Black communities and dismantle systems of violence:
“This weekend, we watched our community come together to mourn another loss of Black life; Daunte Wright was 20 years old and his life was cut short on Sunday. The pain of George Floyd’s murder is still scarred into our minds and yet history continues to repeat itself because of a rotten and racist institution.
“We are tired of rogue police departments operating with little to no accountability and oversight. Again and again, they show us that every police department across Minnesota and this country is full of Derek Chauvins. Black people should not have to worry about being murdered just because we choose to live; whether it is to go jogging, or out to buy personal items, or just because we are sleeping in our homes— we are fighting for a world in which these situations do not end in a death sentence for Black people.”
You can read their full post here.
Let us turn our grief and rage into action. Let us fight harder to defund the police and dismantle anti-Blackness and white supremacy in all corners of our lives and institutions.
In solidarity,
SURJ NYC