JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — There’s a movement underway as people across the nation are uniting for social justice and change. Community leaders are calling on voters to make their voices heard not just in the streets but in the ballot box.
Say Their Names lists the names and pictures of Black lives lost unjustly, according to the website. It includes names dating back to 1944, which includes 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. who was executed in Columbia, South Carolina on June 16, 1944 for two murders he did not commit.
Some of their stories are more well known than others.
George Floyd's death in Minneapolis on May 25 lead to public outrage and sparked a movement.
"For the first time, we’re seeing America in the midst of this peaceful protest saying the same thing: Black lives matter,” Derrick Johnson, President and CEO, NAACP said. “It's not a hashtag, it’s not an organization. It's a statement of fact.”
There are clashes across the nation as some struggle to understand what Johnson declares as fact. He went on to explain that equal protection of the law should be afforded to everyone regardless of race.
“And what we have seen from Trayvon Martin in Florida to Ferguson is that the lives of the individuals that were injured and in these cases murdered it appears as if the Black person’s life did not matter," he said.
He's hopeful these protests translate into people feeling empowered and energized to get out and vote, noting public policy needs to be implemented to address systemic problems within the country.
“This election is perhaps one of the most consequential elections in my lifetime," Johnson said. "Elections have consequences and our lives depend on it. Literally our lives depend on it with the disproportionate impact COVID-19 is having on the African American community. Individuals are being infected and dying because of this virus. We must vote. Our lives depends on it."
The NAACP Thursday filed a lawsuit against the United States Postal Service and Postmaster General, Louis Dejoy, claiming his policies are sabotaging the USPS in order to disenfranchise voters of color. DeJoy will testify in both the Senate and House in the coming days.