By We’Ced Youth Media
Image via Claudia Gonzalez
Editor’s Note: Last week, video surfaced of an altercation between an off-duty police officer and a 13-year -old boy in Anaheim.
The Black Lives Matter movement is important because it is giving a voice to people who have been oppressed, marginalized, and silenced for too long. Enough is enough. It’s time for the ‘Blue Wall of Silence’ to be torn down. This wall is what enables police brutality
A press release from the police department notes that Lloyd was booked and charged with resisting arrest and riding his bicycle on the sidewalk. His companion, 18-year-old Bryce Snell, was arrested while videotaping the incident and charged with obstruction. In the video, Snell is seen being tackled by an unseen officer later identified by his last name, Avery.
This is why many people know hundreds of Freddie Grays, as his family’s attorney exclaimed at the funeral. And this is why there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of Freddie Grays in America – young Black men who grew up in poverty, who attended low performing schools, who lived in contaminated communities, and who now have a hard time finding employment, have had run-ins with the criminal justice system, and are harassed by law enforcement.