What’s next? Protesters get to work when marching ends

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Cera Powell

Protesters march down Capitol Avenue for justice for the murder of George Floyd and police reform on Sunday, March 31.

Sharron Reed-Davis wants the protest in Lansing and around the country to continue.

Davis, 21, a member of the Black Student Alliance at Michigan State University, is protesting in Lansing fighting for justice of black people who have been a victim of police brutality.

She can’t stop, she says, protesting means fighting for her rights and the rights of her people, she knows that protesting has brought awareness like never before. Police brutality hasn’t stopped but has shown clear racism and brutality from the police to the world.

“When people stop protesting the movement slowly dies,” Davis said. “We don’t have to be in the streets every day to protest. There are other ways to protest and that’s what needs to begin when the protests on the streets end.”  

Recent protests around the globe for the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old man who died after a police officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck during an arrest May 25. Since the protest, the officer, Derek Chauvin, has since been charged with second-degree murder. Along with three other officers who were involved being charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

Ongoing protesting has lawmakers around the country creating laws and bills surrounding issues of police brutality and police reform.

“I can’t stress how important protesting has been and how many changes I’ve seen in the past month because of it,” Jay Gooden, 21, a senior and member of BSA at MSU said.

Cera Powell

Jay Gooden said he doesn’t want people to stop marching because he wants more than justice, he wants to change.

Some of those changes include New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushing to pass a False Accusation Bill that would make it a crime to report false 911 accusations to the police. New York lawmakers passed the anti-chokehold bill on June 8 named after Eric Garner that criminalizes police chokeholds. On June 7, Minneapolis City Council members announced their intent to defund police and replacing it with a community-based public safety model.

Protesters said they believe these laws/ideas are coming into place because of people going out and protesting for police reform. Protestors and activists in Lansing have called for Lansing to follow behind Minneapolis to defund police.

Gooden said: “We would like to see local committee members be the security and people we know, that live in the community to serve and protect us. The laws that are forming and the protests that are happening are making this change occur.”

“Protesting means having a voice and me speaking up for things I feel is wrong and standing up for what is right,” Gooden said. “People protested for me to have the rights that I have now, and I feel like it’s only necessary for me to keep continuing that for the future generations.”

Audio Interview link of Jay Gooden on why people shouldn’t stop marching.

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