The Movement for Black Lives has called for a national day of action on Thursday, July 21 to take a stand against oppression and violence against black people. In Columbus a march is planned for 6 p.m. from the Ohio Statehouse to the Columbus Division of Police a few blocks away.
“In the wake of the national outcry over the police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, we’ve seen black folks and allies put their bodies on the line to fight for a world where black lives matter,” said Tynan Krakoff, a lead organizer with the Columbus chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a group of white people organizing white people to fight against racial injustice.
“Columbus is no exception to police killings,” Krakoff said. “Just this summer we’ve lost two black men to police violence: Henry Green and Kawme Patrick. If we remain silent, then racism will continue to thrive. We are called on to make visible and undeniable the fact that white folks across the country refuse to be complicit in the assault on black lives.”
Locally, the People’s Justice Project has been leading a campaign to bring justice for Henry Green. Their demands include an independent investigation by the Department of Justice; an independent prosecutor to oversee the case; an immediate end of use of armed plainclothes officers; and for the city, the FOP, and the police to enter into good faith negotiations with community stakeholders to redirecting funds currently supporting the Summer Safety Initiative to safety priorities that residents feel will actually keep them safer this summer.
BREAKING: Someone reported the Facebook event page for this action, and it's been taken down. But the action is still on. Organizers have created a new Facebook event.