George Floyd's death at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis last week has caused a mass outcry across the world. Floyd, an unarmed black man, died as a police officer knelt on his neck for 8 minutes. After his death, protests began in Minneapolis, which saw the torching of the city’s police station and soon spread to other cities. Thousands of people marched, here in the U.K. – from Cardiff to Manchester to London – protesting the killing of black people by the police.
The world is hurting, our hearts are aching and there’s a feeling of impotence as we watch our elected leaders make questionable decisions and defend behaviour that for many of us is indefensible and sometimes morally reprehensible. We sit open mouthed as social injustices are allowed to manifest themselves and inequities not only fail to get rectified but they instead deepen. The politics of hate, division and mistrust can’t be allowed to win.
We need to love harder, work harder, try harder to cultivate a society of love, understanding and tolerance. Not one of bigotry, ignorance and violence. One that can never discriminate based on race, religion, gender or sexuality. Let’s set the foundations for a fairer, kinder and more hopeful tomorrow.
We had a few messages asking us to help urgently and we have responded. A group called Show Racism The Red Card (https://www.theredcard.org/ ) goes into school and educates young people to challenge misconceptions, stereotypes and negative attitudes wherever they see it in society. They do incredible work across the U.K. and if we can inspire our young people as early as possible then maybe that’s the best roadmap for a brighter future and one that is firmly in our grasp.
Lots of love and thank you all.
The 500 Reasons Admin Team #BlackLivesMatter