On May 19 demonstrators gathered at the Ohio Statehouse and the North Market to raise awareness of the forms of violence experienced by black women, girls, and transgender women. They called for an end to criminalization of black victims of sexual violence, gender discriminatory legislation, and narrow social standards of black womanhood and femininity.

“We’re here today to join a national day of action lifting up the names of black women, girls, and femmes who have been killed in the past two years,” said Rev. Lane Campbell, minister of religious education at the First Unitarian Universalist Church. “These are just the cases that we know about. There are many other names that we don’t know.”

The protesters unfurled a large scroll of names and read them aloud, chanting “Say Her Name” after each victim’s name.

The #SayHerName day of action was organized by BYP (Black Youth Project) 100, Ferguson Action, Project South, and other Black Lives Matter groups. The demonstrators in Columbus are members of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a national network of white allies organizing to engage white people in the Black Lives Matter movement.