Words Black Lives Matter

Saturday, Ma7 30, 10am-12pm
Ohio Statehouse, 1 Capitol Square
***On the sidewalk in front of the Ohio Statehouse facing High St.***

Bring your signs and face masks this Saturday, May 30 from 10 AM-12 PM for a demonstration to demand justice for Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd! We will be gathering in front of the Ohio Statehouse along High St. on the sidewalk. We CANNOT be on Capitol Square, so please be sure to stay on the sidewalk.

A couple of things:
1. We WILL be enforcing social distancing guidelines. We don’t want to give the police any reason to want to make any arrests or try to break up our demonstration. If that means we’re stretch out over a couple blocks on High St, so be it! The more the merrier!

2. It’s supposed to be cooler this Saturday, but definitely bring some water and sunscreen. It’s mentioned above but also wear a mask!

3. We’ve gotten some questions like why Ohio? Why Columbus? What will our voices so far from where these individuals were murdered even do? We are demonstrating to show our support for and stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. We are showing up to protest police violence. Our own CPD has its own ugly history with violence and aggression towards black people and other POC - https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/us/tyree-king-police-shooting-columbus-ohio.html, so it’s important that we stand with our communities of color and show that we will not tolerate this blatant and rampant racism. It’s also important that we call on our state and local officials to enact change at their respective levels. Ohio can be the state that sets an example for how we prevent more innocent black people from being slain at the hands of police officers and white supremacists, as well as how we hold those people accountable.

4. Please do not bring your gun. We support your right to have one, but like we said above, we would prefer to not give the police any reason to make any arrests or break up our demonstration. Thank you for respecting our wishes.

Also, this shouldn’t need to be said, but: WE DO NOT CONDONE VIOLENT PROTESTS. Please respect our wishes and keep this demonstration as peaceful as possible.