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Morning Start: #BlackLivesMatter started with a love letter

Your morning start for Tuesday, June 2, 2020
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(Natalia Cuevas-Huaico - Kelowna Capital News)

Good morning! Get out your umbrellas and boots, it might just rain.

Fun Fact of the day: Black lives matter started with a love letter

In 2012, 17-year-old , unarmed Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman, a neighbourhood watch who felt Travyon, walking home after buying a pack of Skittles at a nearby service station, was ‘out of place’ in the middle-class area. Zimmerman was acquitted for all charges.

Alicia Garza retells the experience: “Trayvon could have been my brother. I immediately felt not only enraged, but a deep sense of grief. It was as if we had all been punched in the gut. Yet soon people shrugged, as if to say: “We knew he was never going to be convicted of killing a black child,” and “What did you expect?””

Turning to Facebook, Alicia wrote a ‘Love Letter to Black Folks’: “We don’t deserve to be killed with impunity. We need to love ourselves and fight for a world where black lives matter. Black people, I love you. I love us. We matter. Our lives matter.”

In a matter of moments, fellow community organiser Patrisse Cullors created the social media hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, and Opal Tometi created the website and social media platforms that soon connected people across the country. Black Lives Matter was born, and the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter started spreading like wildfire. A year later, it went viral during the 2014 uprising in Ferguson, Missouri, when people took to the streets with a simple demand: Stop Killing Us.

“As we say ‘Black Lives Matter’, you see the light that comes inside of people from Black communities and other communities. People are like, ‘I’m going to stand on the side of Black lives.’ You see people transforming, and that’s a different type of work. For me, that is a spiritual work, a healing work. What a great time to be alive.”

Weather forecast according to Environment Canada:

In Kelowna:

In Vernon:

In Penticton:

In Salmon Arm:

In case you missed it:

Kelowna residents will gather at Stuart Park for a peaceful rally in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement on Friday, June 5.

“Kelowna stands with the BLM movement,” read a post from organizers on Facebook.

“We won’t let the silence wash away the lives that have been brutally lost to police brutality.”

Those attending the rally at Stuart Park in Kelowna will also have the opportunity to donate towards the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as the George Floyd Memorial Fund.

The peaceful rally will commence at noon on Friday, June 5 at Stuart Park in Kelowna, B.C.

Video of the day:

READ MORE: Social justice advocate yells at Kelowna council, demands presence at Black Lives Matter rally


Daniel Taylor
Reporter, Kelowna Capital News
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