# data[].attributes.body
This TedTalk provides a great explanation of the origins of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement. This video is very impactful as it is coming from the POV of a young, black woman.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
#BlackLivesMatter | Kennedy Cook | TEDxYouth@Dayton

# data[].attributes.body
#BlackLivesMatter

# data[].attributes.body
The Black Lives Matter movement originally began in 2013.  It started when Trayvon Martin, a black, unarmed 17-year-old, was returning home from the store.  George Zimmerman, a wannabe cop, claimed that he looked suspicious and ultimately shot and killed Trayvon Martin.  When Zimmerman was found not guilty of murder, people were outraged and began speaking up.  A Facebook post with the caption “Black Lives Matter” caught people’s attention and fostered change.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black Lives Matter: From social media post to global movement

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Black Lives Matter has sparked a hashtag, grass-roots organisations, and a collective of activists.

# data[].attributes.body
“The recent Black Lives Matter protests peaked on June 6, when half a million people turned out in nearly 550 places across the United States”

# data[].attributes.body
This clip shows the immense support the BLM Movement had after the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

# data[].attributes.body
Check out this incredible, interactive timeline for a better understanding of the Civil Rights Movement!

# data[].attributes.body
Here are some of the victims of police brutality during 2020, who we continue to fight for justice for:
George Floyd (5/25/20)
Breonna Taylor (3/13/20)
Ahmaud Arbery (2/23/20)
#BlackLivesMatter

# data[].attributes.body
“Our white is so white you can paint a chunka coal and you’d have to crack it open with a sledge hammer to prove it wasn’t white clear through” (Ellison 217).

The narrator works at a Liberty Paints plant which symbolizes the racial dynamics in society.  Liberty Paints emphasizes on the fact that their paint is white enough to make charcoal white.  This represents society’s ability to subvert black identites and encourage black people to mask their true thoughts and feelings in order to be accepted by white culture.

# data[].attributes.body
“But here in the North I would slough off my southern ways of speech. Indeed, I would have one way of speaking in the North and another in the South. Give them what they wanted down South, that was the way. If Dr. Bledsoe could do it, so could I” (Ellison 164).

The narrator admits that he would change his identity just to secure a job.  This forces him to analyze different black stereotypes in Harlem in order to fit in.
This has been a common occurrence for black people throughout history, to act how white people expect them to act, in order to be accepted by society.

# data[].attributes.body
This monumental court case ruled that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional. Brown v. Board of Education established the precedent that previous “separate-but-equal” doctrine was, in fact, not equal at all.

# data[].attributes.headline
A Quote from one of the founders, Alicia Garza

# data[].attributes.subject
A Quote from one of the founders, Alicia Garza

# data[].attributes.body
“We really felt like there needed to be a space that people could relate to that didn’t blame black people for conditions we didn’t create"
https://www.nfg.org/news/meet-woman-behind-blacklivesmatter-hashtag-became-civil-rights-movement

# data[].attributes.headline
History of the Movement in “2 minutes or so”

# data[].attributes.subject
History of the Movement in “2 minutes or so”

# data[].attributes.body
This short video provides an excellent overview of the movement and its leaders! #IHaveADream

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Civil Rights Movement - BLACK HISTORY IN TWO MINUTES

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The civil rights movement was an organized effort where African-Americans united and rallied to put black progressiveness at the forefront of a nation that sought to minimize and revoke rights. Many cite 1954 as the beginning of the movement, with the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education.

# data[].attributes.body
“The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin” #1964 #LyndonBJohnson
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act

# data[].attributes.body
The NAACP stands for National Association for the Advancemt of Colored People.  The main goal of the organization is to provide political, social, educational and economic equality for minority groups in the United States.

# data[].attributes.body
Petitions are a great starting point too! They have been an incredibly influentual part of the movement in 2020. #signsomepetitions #makechange

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Black lives matter. As a society that has been evolved multiply times, you'd expect racism to be the least of our problems. But obviously it's not, besides COVID-19, white privilege, oppression, racism, is our main priority. George Floyd was a father, a brother, an uncle, a human who's life ended for no justifiable reason.

# data[].attributes.body
Check out this link if you’d like to learn more about the history of the NAACP in their own words!
#NAACP #CivilRights #History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Founded February 12, 1909, the NAACP is the nation's foremost, largest, and most widely recognized civil rights organization. Its more than half-million members and supporters throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, leading grassroots campaigns for equal opportunity and conducting voter mobilization.
Founding group

In 1908, a deadly race riot rocked the city of Springfield, the capital of Illinois and resting place of President Abraham Lincoln. Such eruptions of anti-black violence - particularly lynching - were horrifically commonplace, but the Springfield riot was the final tipping point that led to the creation of the NAACP. Appalled at this rampant violence, a group of white liberals that included Mary White Ovington and Oswald Garrison Villard (both the descendants of famous abolitionists), William English Walling and Dr. Henry Moscowitz issued a call for a meeting to discuss racial justice. Some 60 people, seven of whom were African American (including W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Mary Church Terrell), signed the call, which was released on the centennial of Lincoln's birth.

Echoing the focus of Du Bois' Niagara Movement for civil rights, which began in 1905, the NAACP's aimed to secure for all people the rights guaranteed in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution, which promised an end to slavery, the equal protection of the law, and universal adult male suffrage, respectively. Accordingly, the NAACP's mission was and is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of United States and eliminate race prejudice. The NAACP seeks to remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes.

The NAACP established its national office in New York City in 1910 and named a board of directors as well as a president, Moorfield Storey, a white constitutional lawyer and former president of the American Bar Association. Other early members included Joel and Arthur Spingarn, Josephine Ruffin, Mary Talbert, Inez Milholland, Jane Addams, Florence Kelley, Sophonisba Breckinridge, John Haynes Holmes, Mary McLeod Bethune, George Henry White, Charles Edward Russell, John Dewey, William Dean Howells, Lillian Wald, Charles Darrow, Lincoln Steffens, Ray Stannard Baker, Fanny Garrison Villard, and Walter Sachs. Despite a foundational commitment to multiracial membership, Du Bois was the only African American among the organization's original executives. He was made director of publications and research and in 1910 established the official journal of the NAACP, The Crisis.

The Crisis

The Crisis
W.E.B. Du Bois founded The Crisis magazine in 1910 as the premier crusading voice for civil rights. Originally subtitled, "A Record of the Darker Races," The Crisis was a groundbreaking outlet for discussing critical issues confronting the African American community and sharing the intellectual and artistic work of people of color. In its first decade, The Crisis focused on vital issues like lynching and World War I. From 1920-1921, Du Bois also published a children's edition of The Crisis, called The Brownies' Book, the first periodical exclusively for black youth in American history.

In time, The Crisis became a voice of the Harlem Renaissance, as Du Bois published works by Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and other famous African American literary figures. In 1928, expanding the magazine's artistic reach, Du Bois founded Krigwa Players (CRIGWA: Crisis Guild of Writers and Artists) to foster theater production about, by, for, and near the African American community.

Now published quarterly, The Crisis remains the official publication of the NAACP and is the NAACP's articulate partner in the struggle for human rights for people of color. A respected journal of thought, opinion and analysis, The Crisis continues to explore past and present issues concerning race and its impact on educational, economic, political, social, moral, and ethical issues. In addition, each issue is highlighted with a special section, "The NAACP Today" reporting the news and events of the NAACP on a local and national level.

A Period of Growth

By 1913, with a strong emphasis on local organizing, the NAACP had established branch offices in such cities as Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, Kansas City, MO, St. Louis, MO, Washington, D.C., and Detroit, MI. NAACP membership grew rapidly, from around 9,000 in 1917 to around 90,000 in 1919, with more than 300 local branches.

Joel Spingarn, a professor of literature and one of the NAACP founders formulated much of the strategy that fostered much of the organization's growth. He was elected board chairman of the NAACP in 1915 and served as president from 1929-1939. Writer and diplomat James Weldon Johnson became the Association's first black executive secretary in 1920, and Louis T. Wright, a surgeon, was named the first black board chairman in 1934.

A series of early court battles, including a victory against a discriminatory Oklahoma law that regulated voting by means of a grandfather clause ( Guinn v. United States, 1910), helped establish the NAACP's importance as a legal advocate. The fledgling organization also learned to harness the power of publicity through its 1915 battle against D. W. Griffith's inflammatory Birth of a Nation, a motion picture that perpetuated demeaning stereotypes of African Americans and glorified the Ku Klux Klan.

Among the Association's top priorities was eradicating lynching. Throughout its 30-year campaign, the NAACP waged legislative battles, gathered and published crucial statistics, organized mass protests, and produced artistic material all in the name of bringing an end to the violence. After early worries about its constitutionality, the NAACP strongly supported the federal Dyer Bill, which would have punished those who participated in or failed to prosecute lynch mobs. Though the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill, a Senate filibuster defeated it for good in 1922. Despite repeated opportunities in years to follow, such as the Costigan-Wagner Bill, Congress never passed any anti-lynching legislation. Many credit the NAACP report "Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States, 1889-1919" and the public debate that followed with drastically decreasing the incidence of lynching.

In 1930, Walter F. White succeeded Johnson as executive secretary. White was instrumental not only in his research on lynching (in part because, as a very fair-skinned African American, he had been able to infiltrate white groups), but also in his successful block of segregationist Judge John J. Parker's nomination by President Herbert Hoover to the U.S. Supreme Court.

White presided over the NAACP's most productive period of legal advocacy. In 1930 the association commissioned the Margold Report, which became the basis for the successful reversal of the separate-but-equal doctrine that had governed public facilities since Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). In 1935, White recruited Charles H. Houston as NAACP chief counsel. Houston was the Howard University law school dean whose strategy on school-segregation cases paved the way for his protégé Thurgood Marshall to prevail in 1954's Brown v. Board of Education, the decision that overturned Plessy.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, which was disproportionately disastrous for African Americans, the NAACP began to focus on economic justice. After years of tension with white labor unions, the Association cooperated with the newly formed Congress of Industrial Organizations in an effort to win jobs for black Americans. White, a friend and adviser to First Lady - and NAACP national board member - Eleanor Roosevelt, met with her often in attempt to convince President Franklin D. Roosevelt to outlaw job discrimination in the armed forces, defense industries, and the agencies created by the New Deal.

Roosevelt ultimately agreed to open thousands of jobs to black workers when labor leader A. Philip Randolph, in collaboration with the NAACP, threatened a national March on Washington movement in 1941. President Roosevelt also set up a Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) to ensure compliance.

Throughout the 1940s, the NAACP saw enormous growth in membership, recording roughly 600,000 members by 1946. It continued to act as a legislative and legal advocate, pushing for a federal anti-lynching law and for an end to state-mandated segregation.

Civil Rights Era

By the 1950s the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, headed by Marshall, secured the last of these goals through Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which outlawed segregation in public schools. The NAACP's Washington, D.C., bureau, led by lobbyist Clarence M. Mitchell Jr., helped advance not only integration of the armed forces in 1948 but also passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1964, and 1968 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Despite such dramatic courtroom and congressional victories, the implementation of civil rights was a slow, painful, and oft times violent process. The unsolved 1951 murder of Harry T. Moore, an NAACP field secretary in Florida whose home was bombed on Christmas night, and his wife was just one of many crimes of retribution against the NAACP and its staff and members. NAACP Mississippi field secretary Medgar Evers and his wife Myrlie also became high-profile targets for pro-segregationist violence and terrorism. In 1962, their home was firebombed and later Medgar was assassinated by a sniper in front of their residence. Violence also met black children attempting to enter previously segregated schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, and other southern cities.

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s echoed the NAACP's goals, but leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, felt that direct action was needed to obtain them. Although the NAACP was criticized for working too rigidly within the system, prioritizing legislative and judicial solutions, the Association did provide legal representation and aid to members of other protest groups over a sustained period of time. The NAACP even posted bail for hundreds of Freedom Riders in the '60s who had traveled to Mississippi to register black voters and challenge Jim Crow policies.

Led by Roy Wilkins, who succeeded Walter White as secretary in 1955, the NAACP collaborated with A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin and other national organizations to plan the historic 1963 March on Washington. The following year, the Association accomplished what seemed an insurmountable task: the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Assisting the NAACP throughout the years were many celebrities and well-known leaders, including Sammy Davis Jr., Lena Horne, Jackie Robinson, Harry Belafonte. As an NAACP director of branches, Ella Baker stressed the importance of young people and women in the organization by recruiting members, raising money, and organizing local campaigns. Daisy Bates served as an NAACP national board member, Arkansas state conference president and advisor to the Little Rock Nine. NAACP stalwart Kivie Kaplan, a businessman and philanthropist from Boston, served as president of the NAACP from 1966 until 1975, personally led nationwide NAACP Life Membership efforts, and fought to keep African Americans away from illegal drugs.

Close of First Century

As de facto racial segregation remained and job discrimination lingered and urban poverty and crime increased, NAACP advocacy and action remained critical for the African American community.

In 1977, Wilkins retired and was replaced by Benjamin L. Hooks - the first leader of the NAACP to be titled "executive director" instead of "executive secretary." During his fifteen year term, Dr. Hooks implemented many NAACP programs that continue today, such as Women in the NAACP and NAACP ACT-SO (Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics) competitions. Additionally, his term included the Bakke case (1978), in which a California court outlawed several aspects of affirmative action.

In the 1990s, the NAACP struggled to find a leader who could replace the prolific Dr. Hooks. In 1993, Benjamin F. Chavis (now Chavis Muhammad) became executive director/CEO. In 1995, Myrlie Evers-Williams (widow of Medgar Evers) became the third woman to chair the NAACP, a position she held until she was succeeded by Chairman Emeritus Julian Bond in 1998. In 1996, the National Board of Directors selected Kweisi Mfume, a former congressman and head of the Congressional Black Caucus, to serve as president and CEO. In doing so, the board changed the name of the leadership position once more and eliminated the elected office of president.

The New Millennium

The NAACP entered the 21 st century reinvigorated and, in 2000, launched a massive get-out-the-vote campaign. As a result, 1 million more African Americans cast their ballots in the 2000 presidential election than in 1996.

The NAACP's initiatives for the 21 st century can best be summarized by its six "Game Changers": economic sustainability, education, health, public safety and criminal justice, voting rights and political representation, and expanding youth and young adult engagement.

Recent leaders have included Bruce S. Gordon, Benjamin Todd Jealous, Dennis Courtland Hayes, and Cornell William Brooks. Presently, Derrick Johnson serves as President and CEO, and Leon W. Russell serves as chairman of the National Board of Directors.

***

Yet the real story of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization lies in the hearts and minds of all those who refused to stand idly while race prejudice tarnished our nation. From bold investigations of mob brutality, protests of mass murders, segregation and discrimination, to testimony before congressional committees on the vicious tactics used to bar African Americans from the ballot box, it was the talent and tenacity of NAACP members that saved lives and made change.

While much of NAACP history is chronicled in books, articles, pamphlets, and magazines, the true movement lies in the faces of the multiracial, multigenerational army of ordinary men and women who united to awaken the consciousness of a people and a nation. With such a powerful membership base, all 2,200 chapters of the Association continue to persevere. Together, the NAACP will remain vigilant in its mission until the promise of America is made real for all Americans.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
NAACP | Nation's Premier Civil Rights Organization

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Founded February 12, 1909, the NAACP is the nation's foremost, largest, and most widely recognized civil rights organization. Its more than half-million members and supporters throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, leading grassroots campaigns for equal opportunity and conducting voter mobilization.

# data[].attributes.body
“And my problem was that I always tried to go in everyone’s way but my own.  I have also been called one thing and then another while no one really wished to hear what I called myself.  So after years of trying to adopt the opinions of others I finally rebelled.  I am an invisible man” (Ellison 573).

This quote shows how the narrator finally understands that he hasn’t been himself.  Instead, he has built his identity around society’s social expectations.
In the beginning of the novel, the narrator calls himself “Invisible Man” to draw attention to the fact that others can’t see him.  In the end of the novel, he calls himself “invisible man” to draw attention to the fact that his identity is real even if others can’t see it.

# data[].attributes.body
On April 21, 2021, Derek Chauvin was found guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, for the death of George Floyd.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The jury has found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all the counts he faced over the death of George Floyd. The trial has been one of the most closely watched cases in recent memory, setting off a national reckoning on police violence and systemic racism even before the trial commenced.

Chauvin, 45, has been found guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

With only his eyes visible as the rest of his face was hidden behind a surgical mask, Chauvin watched as the verdict was returned. Judge Peter Cahill thanked the jury members for their "heavy-duty jury service." Chauvin was remanded into custody as the jury was dismissed, and Cahill said sentencing is expected in eight weeks.

State sentencing guidelines recommend 12.5 years in prison for a conviction on unintentional second-degree murder for someone with no criminal history. But prosecutors could seek a sentence up to the maximum of 40 years on that count if Cahill determines there were aggravating factors.

A deputy handcuffed Chauvin and escorted him to a side room.

George Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd, hugged prosecutor Jerry Blackwell, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and others, according to pool reports from a journalist in the courtroom. Ellison and Blackwell shook hands.

Philonise Floyd had been seen praying in the courtroom. Asked by a pool reporter afterward what he had been praying for, he answered: "I was just praying they would find him guilty. As an African American, we usually never get justice."

There was no noticeable reaction from the jury, according to a pool reporter. The jurors each remained still and quiet, staring at the judge until they were called upon to announce their judgment.

The jury had been deliberating for about 10 hours over two days, following closing arguments.

Floyd's death on Memorial Day 2020 sparked protests in Minneapolis, across the United States and around the world. It prompted calls for police reform and soul-searching on issues of racial injustice.

Floyd was a 46-year-old Black man from Houston who had moved to Minnesota three years earlier. He was a father and brother who idolized his mother, loved making music and had been a star athlete as a young man.

Floyd died after Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd's neckfor 9 minutes and 29 seconds as Floyd lay facedown, hands cuffed behind his back.
The trial
Judge Cahill presided in the case. Known as being fair and decisive, Cahill made the unusual decision to allow the trial to be broadcast live.

The prosecution argued that Floyd died as a direct result of Chauvin's actions: that due to Chauvin's weight on Floyd's neck and back while holding him in the prone position, Floyd died of low oxygen levels that caused a brain injury and arrhythmia, causing his heart to stop.

"He did what he did on purpose, and it killed George Floyd," said prosecutor Steve Schleicher.

Testimony in the case was remarkable in that witnesses for the prosecution included numerous members of the Minneapolis police. Minneapolis Police Department Chief Medaria Arradondo and other members of his department testified that Chauvin's lengthy restraint of Floyd was not reasonable and violated the department's policies on use of force.

"There is an initial reasonableness in trying to get him under control in the first few seconds," Arradondo testified, "but once there was no longer any resistance, and clearly when Mr. Floyd was no longer responsive and even motionless, to continue to apply that level of force to a person proned out, handcuffed behind their back - that in no way, shape or form is anything that is by policy, is not part of our training and is certainly not part of our ethics or our values."

Chauvin's defense, meanwhile, argued that there was a range of potential factors in Floyd's death, including what it said was Floyd's enlarged heart, fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system and possibly carbon monoxide from squad car exhaust.

Above all, defense attorney Eric Nelson strove to inject doubt into the state's case. He framed Chauvin's actions as those of a "reasonable police officer" doing his job under stressful and chaotic circumstances.

The testimony ranged from complex medical and forensic pathology topics to discussion of police training and officers' use of force. There were moments of deep emotion, including from bystander Charles McMillian and the young woman identified in court as Darnella, who was 17 when she took video of the incident.

Hennepin County's medical examiner, Dr. Andrew Baker, testified that Floyd died from cardiopulmonary arrest resulting from "law enforcement subdual, restraint and the neck compression." He said the manner of death was "homicide," meaning that someone else was involved in the death.

Compared with the prosecution, the defense's testimony was brief. Defense attorney Nelson called just six witnesses, including a retired Minneapolis police officer and a retired paramedic who had interacted with Floyd during a 2019 traffic stop.

The defense spent the most time questioning Dr. David Fowler, a retired forensic pathologist who testified that Floyd died from a sudden cardiac event and that opioids and methamphetamine in his system and possibly carbon monoxide poisoning played a role. He disputed the Hennepin County medical examiner's judgment that the manner of Floyd's death was "homicide" and said that it should have been classified as "undetermined," given the number of factors in play.

In the opinion of Baker, the medical examiner, "the law enforcement subdual, restraint and the neck compression was just more than Mr. Floyd could take, by virtue of those heart conditions." While fentanyl and heart disease may have contributed to Floyd's death, they were not the direct cause, Baker said.

Other medical and forensic witnesses called by the prosecution agreed.

"Mr. George Floyd died from a cardiopulmonary arrest. It was caused by low oxygen levels. And those low oxygen levels were induced by the prone restraint and positional asphyxiation that he was subjected to," testified Dr. Jonathan Rich, a cardiologist.

Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd, described their Houston childhood and told the court about how Floyd "was a leader in our household." Floyd's girlfriend, Courteney Ross, described her affection for him and their mutual struggle with opioid addiction.
The charges
Unintentional second-degree murder is defined as causing death without intent to do so, while committing or attempting to commit a felony offense. The maximum sentence for second-degree murder is 40 years.

Third-degree murder is causing death to an individual by "perpetrating an act imminently dangerous to others and evidencing a depraved mind without regard for human life," but without the intent to cause death. It carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.

Second-degree manslaughter is causing the death of another by "culpable negligence, creating an unreasonable risk" in which the defendant "consciously takes the risk of causing death or great bodily harm to another individual." It carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
The jury
The names of the jurors are not known. But we do know that the jury was significantly less white than Hennepin County itself.

The 12 jurors included four Black people, two people who identify as multiracial and six white people. Two alternates - both of them white women - were dismissed.

The jury reported each day for duty to the Hennepin County Government Center under intense security measures, using a private entrance to enter the court.

The jurors were given a laptop and monitor to review the extensive video footage and exhibits presented during the trial.

"Use your common sense. Believe your eyes. What you saw, you saw," prosecutor Schleicher told the jury.

If the state is "missing any one single element" to meet the burden of proving Chauvin's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt for each of the three counts, "it is a not-guilty verdict," defense attorney Nelson told them.
Beyond the courtroom
On the Sunday before the last week of testimony, another Black man was killed at the hands of police in Hennepin County. Daunte Wright, 20, was fatally shot by Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter during a traffic stop. Potter, who says she mistakenly fired her gun instead of a Taser, resigned from the force and has been charged with second-degree manslaughter.

Major demonstrations have followed Wright's shooting, with protesters gathering outside the Brooklyn Center police station in suburban Minneapolis.

Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama drew a straight line between the deaths of Floyd and Wright: "The fact that this could happen even as the city of Minneapolis is going through the trial of Derek Chauvin and reliving the heart-wrenching murder of George Floyd indicates not just how important it is to conduct a full and transparent investigation, but also just how badly we need to reimagine policing and public safety in this country," they said in a statement.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Derek Chauvin Found Guilty Of George Floyd's Murder

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The jury has found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all the counts he faced over the death of George Floyd. The trial has been one of the most closely watched cases in recent memory, setting off a national reckoning on police violence and systemic racism even before the trial commenced.

# data[].attributes.body
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You is a book about racism in the U.S. throughout history.  One of the authors, Jason Reynolds, states,“Scrolling will never be enough.  Reposting will never be enough.  Hashtagging will never be enough.  Because hatred has a way of convincing us that half love is whole.  What I mean by that is we, all of us, have to fight against performance and lean into participation.  We have to be participants.  Active.  We have to be more than audience members sitting comfortably in the stands of morality, shouting, ‘wrong!’  That’s too easy.  Instead, we must be players on the field, on the court, in our classrooms and communities, trying to do right.  Because it takes a whole hand, both hands, to grab hold of hatred not just a texting thumb and a scrolling index finger” (Reynolds 253).
This quote shows how change won’t be made unless we start taking more action, outside of talking about it on social media.  Just posting hashtags for the Black Lives Matter movement on social media simply isn’t enough to end racism.

# data[].attributes.body
“I didn't understand in those pre-invisible days that their hate, and mine too, was charged with fear. How all of us at the college hated the black-belt people, the ‘peasants,’ during those days! We were trying to lift them up and they, like Trueblood, did everything it seemed to pull us down” (Ellison 47)

In this quote, the narrator realizes that racism is rooted in fear.
The narrator states how the school's black population resents people like Trueblood because their lifestyle supports the black stereotypes the students were trying to abolish.

# data[].attributes.body
Lift Every Voice: The NAACP and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement recounts the history of the NAACP and Civil Rights Movements in great depth.

"By the time the NAACP was founded, white supremacy had triumphed in the South, home to nearly 90 percent of black Americans. Over the previous twenty years southern states enacted a series of laws that effectively stripped blacks of citizenship rights and segregated all phases of public life"(Sullivan 1).

This quote perfectly encompasses the catalysts of the formation of the NAACP. It is clear that legal segregation could no longer continue in the United States, and figures like W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida Wells-Barnett, Archibald Grimke and Mary Church Terrell would need to take on the challenge of change in the legal system.

# data[].attributes.body
As the narrator acts as a driver for a trustee of hid college, he implicitly describes black stereotypes. “It was the cabin of Jim Trueblood, a sharecropper who had brought disgrace upon the black community”(Ellison 46).

The narrator instantly begins with saying Trueblood was a disgrace to the black community. However, he follows by saying how Trueblood used to be the ‘perfect black man.’ He was a hardworking farmer that cared for his family and told great stories. He perfectly fit the stereotype that many black men fell under. This stereotype has been dangerous for black Americans for hundreds of years. Especially during the 20th century, the rise of legal segregation was accompanied by even stronger stereotypes.