Protesters marched the street in Lima today in the name of those who have been killed by law enforcement around the country.
"Mama!"
"I can't breathe!"
The crowd cried out some of George Floyd’s last words as they knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time that a police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck and killed him.
The protest and march shed light on not only the recent death of Floyd but the many instances and names of people that have fallen victim to police brutality around the country.
The crowd was mixed of all different walks of life, including Lima resident Dawn Tucker who is almost 70 years old. She said she was an activist for the Civil Rights Movement in the '50s and '60s, and is back out to continue showing her support.
“No mother should have to worry about her son going out jogging, or her son just going out in the yard," says Tucker. "No mother should have to worry like that. That’s what this is about. This needs to end."
Now, she is watching the younger generation step up and continue the fight, just as she did.
“We are the future," says 18-year-old Alazae Thomas. "Our moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas won't always be around to help us fight, so we have to learn how to do that for ourselves so that we aren't being destroyed as a person or as a race.”
Thomas helped organize the protest in Lima and says that she wanted to be a part of something bigger and help make a change.
To help bring on that change, her and others from the movement collectively made a list of demands for the Lima Police Department that they hope will lead to less violence and brutality and more justice. Among those demands are answers to Tarika Wilson's death in 2008, to re-open police brutality cases to bring justice to others and look for warning signs of a violent officer, and a meeting between the “Black Lives Matter” organization and head city officials.
Although the protesters are pushing for reform within the police department, Thomas says they are not against the police.
“LPD is not an innocent police department in its own, but you could tell that the officers who did help today supported our movement and I would like to thank them for that,” says Thomas.
The protest ended peacefully.
