It’s been almost two weeks since George Floyd died after a white former Minneapolis police officer held a knee to his neck for several minutes. His death touched a nerve that sparked anger and protests in the U.S. and around the world.
Latinx protestors have been especially outspoken in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and this black-brown unity is changing the prejudice discourse within their own culture.
Protestors of all colors and ages have united over their mutual outrage of the killings of unarmed black Americans at the hands of law enforcement.
Some members of the Latinx community in the U.S. supporting the movement have said they’re paying it forward after the African American community showed their support following the El Paso Walmart massacre.
San Antonio’s Autonomous Brown Berets de San Anto and El Paso’s Brown Berets Del Chuco were instrumental in arranging demonstrations in their respective communities against police violence.
Rev. Regina Clarke — an organizer with the national Poor People’s Campaign and associate minister at Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn. — and Rodolfo Rosales Jr. — Texas state director for the League of United Latin American Citizens — discuss this black-brown alliance in the wake of Floyd’s death.
It’s not only a unity calling for justice, but also addresses longstanding colorism prevalent among traditional Mexican ideologies and provides a path towards healing.
The Poor People’s Campaign will host a virtual Mass Poor People’s Assembly & Moral March on Washington June 20.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PjveDCFbr8&feature=emb_title
Norma Martinez can be reached at norma@tpr.org and on Twitter @NormDog1 and Lauren Terrazas can be reached at lauren@tpr.org and on Twitter @terrazas_lauren.
