How to Support the Struggle Against Police Brutality by: Claire Lampen

On Monday, a white Minneapolis police officer named Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck until his body went limp. The assault was caught on video. Floyd, 46, gasped that he could not breathe, but Chauvin did not let up, and Floyd died from his injuries in police custody. It was the third in a string of similar deaths to make its way into national headlines this month: In March, police in Louisville, Kentucky, burst into Breonna Taylor’s apartment in the middle of the night. They shot the 26-year-old eight times, killing her in her own home. And in February, two white men in a pickup truck gunned down Ahmaud Arbery while he jogged through their Georgia neighborhood. The pair admitted to fatally shooting Arbery, but were only arrested for his murder in May.
It’s an unfortunately familiar pattern in the United States; this week, anger has boiled over. Minneapolis has seen massive protests over the past few days, while demonstrators across the country have gathered to demand immediate action to stop racist policing. Amid an ongoing pandemic, gathering to support one another carries unique risk, although for many, the calculation comes down to which danger is more immediate: the coronavirus, or police brutality. With that in mind, here’s what you can do to safely support protests right now.

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