Parents and siblings of Black men killed by police gathered in the city where George Floyd was killed a year ago to ask the public to join them in pursuing legal changes they say can make more deaths less likely in the future.
The families gathered in Minneapolis on Monday for a discussion about the state of policing in the U.S. and racial inequities in the frequency of fatal encounters with law enforcement.
The families also discussed the role of lawmakers in making changes to hold police accountable and how community members can support the loved ones of those killed by police.
Among those sharing her experience with trying to change laws was Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner who was killed by a New York City police officer in 2014.
“I don’t believe in writing letters, and making phone calls, I do like getting up in their face,” said Carr.
Carr said she has learned to be more assertive in the process.
“When I get there, I don’t let them know what my asks are, I let them know what my demands are.”
Also on the stage, was the mother of Oscar Grant, killed in 2009 by transit police in California, the mother of Trayvon Martin, killed by a neighborhood watch coordinator in 2012, and the mother of Daunte Wright, killed by a Brooklyn Center police officer last month.
The gathering came the same week that members of George Floyd’s family, and others who lost loved ones to police violence joined a crowd of hundreds in downtown Minneapolis for a march on Sunday that marked the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death at the hands of cop Derek Chauvin.
“It has been a long year. It has been a painful year,” Floyd’s sister Bridgett told the crowd at Sunday's march. “It has been very frustrating for me and my family for our lives to change in the blink of an eye – I still don’t know why.”
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