The Black Lives Matter protest for George Floyd began at the steps of St. Louis City Hall on June 7th. The organizers explained in detail what the protest stood for and voiced their demands to the crowd.
Protesters’ Speech at St. Louis City Hall
The reason we planned this protest is because we are tired, tired of the blunt racism, tired of the oppression, tired of the black disregard for black lives shown by police officers within this country.
We are tired of being tired of being tired. With this we have created a list of demands for this process against police murder.
Firstly, we demand reparations for the black community. The black community demands reparations and equity for current and past harms inflicted due to systematic racisim and the wealth that has been extracted from our communities as such.
We want equity within various political and economic systems that consistently deny us equal lively hood to our non-black counterparts.
We demand law enforcement needs to be defunded and demilitarized because those funds should be reallocated to the advancement of black communities.
We demand black people be tried in court by juries consisting of members from their respective black communities.
We demand black people be tried in court by individuals who are directly involved within their respective communities instead of all white juries.
We demand community control of law enforcement. As stated by the Black Lives Matter movement, this would include the end of the privatization of education and making sure communities themselves have the power to hire and fire officers, determine disciplinary action, control budgets and policies and subpoena relevant agency information when needed.
We demand the abolishment and reconstruction of the police system from the bottom up.
Various Organizers of Black Lives Matter Protest
