The Fight for Racial Justice Continues

Protests seemingly died off after only a few weeks, sparked only by the death of George Floyd. This is not necessarily the case. Coverage of these protests andevents have dwindled.

Several groups around the United States continue to protest in hopes for positive change.

Police reform is the most talked about issue in the fight for racial justice. A few organizations including Black Lives Matter have been more focused on the issue of police murdering Black males.

The Black Lives Matter movement has been put into a box, forced to talk mainly about police violence says attorney Stacy Shaw. She is a local attorney who has attended nearly 20 protests since the end of May 2020. She supports the Black Lives Matter movement and is active in the community.

“This is more of a revolution than a movement,” says Ms. Shaw. “A revolution requires the radical change of a system or social construct.”

The conversation of defunding versus abolishing the police has been more talked about recently. Over the past month people have also been looking at changing the systems in place that give them the freedom to act as they please with little to no consequences.

Most of the protesting has been sparked or in some way inspired by the treatment of minorities by police.“It’s a transformative process to standup for your community,” says Ms. Shaw.

The majority of protests have also been peaceful according to both Ms. Shaw and Maria Franco, a UMKC student major-ing in mechanical engineering.

Ms. Franco has not been to the larger protests in fear of bringing home any sickness, but she has been to several of the smaller protests. She has also spent time contributing to the causes in other ways including signing petitions and engaging people on social media.

“I share information about it and call out anti-blackness,” says Ms. Franco.

She is a part of the Latinx community but makes sure to focus on issues of other maginalized groups as well.

Ms. Franco has said she knows that people in her community are afraid to speak out because of their status. She is currently protected under DACA, but makes sure she isn’t afraid to speak up for those who feel like they can’t.

“What people fail to realize is this is not Black versus White, this is not Black versus Latinx,” says Ms.Franco. “This is a humanity issue, this is about people just not being treated equally.”

Ms. Franco is working to help spread information and educate those in her community on the issues and of their rights. At UMKC, Ms. Franco has worked as part of the Student Governement Association (SGA).

“I like to find a wayto bring complex topics to campus,” says Ms. Franco.

More and more people who are fighting for racial justice are young people, especially college students.

“The voices of thismovement are no older than 26,” says Ms. Shaw. “What they’re doing is going to change the destiny of America.”

Some changes have already happened with streets and sports teams considering renaming, and removing certain statues.

Other things are happening in the community that some have expressed concerns about including Operation Legend.

“More policing isn’t going to stop the violence,” says Ms. Franco, in response to the initiative. “It is instilling fear in communities.”

Operation Legend is an initiative that has sparked debate and protests here locally. This would allow over 100 U.S. marshals, FBI, DEA, and ATF agents to work with state and local law enforcement to help with solving violent crimes.

Not all of the details of this initiative have been decided or announced.

*Published in The Call Newspaper July 17, 2020 Issue*