From the March-April 2015 issue of News & Letters

Los Angeles—The annual Martin Luther King march here on Jan. 19 was changed after Michael Brown, the unarmed Black teenager, was shot dead by the police in Ferguson, Mo., under circumstances that some called an outright murder. Young activists carried pictures of 21 youths who were recently killed by the police. We lay down in the street, just like dead people after being shot by the police, while another group vented their anger, shouting, “Don’t shoot, hands up!”

Marchers carried signs saying “Black lives matter!” Other people had signs demanding criminal charges against the police who shot the youth. One protester’s sign quoted Dr. King: “An injustice to one is an injustice to all.” Another proclaimed, “I can’t breathe!” A Black woman stated that she has sent her two sons to live with relatives since she feared for their safety in L.A.

The Black community is energized and angered by the brutality of the police. One observer stated that maybe the writing on the police car, “to protect and to serve,” means that the police serve the community of the cops rather than the people!

–Mannel