Above photo: From Twitter.
NOTE: It is critical that we fight this year for a People’s Agenda to bring economic security to everyone and end state violence against the people.
Nashville, TN – A social justice group out of Knoxville, Tennessee made the trek to the State Capitol building on Tuesday, demanding that lawmakers take immediate action on issues like Medicare for all, and the fight for racial equality. This comes on the first day of the legislative session.
Earlier Tuesday afternoon when the demonstration was still happening, the rally organizers said their groups wasn’t as big as they had hoped it would be, partly because of what happened at the U.S. Capitol last week. But despite their small numbers, they say their message carried big importance.
“What’s that spell? Black Lives Matter! What’s that spell? Black Lives Matter! What’s that spell? Black Lives Matter!” demonstrators chanted.
The group is called Black Coffee Justice, and they’re demanding three things from Tennessee lawmakers.
The first is demand is free Medicare for all, the second is full unemployment benefits for those struggling during the pandemic, and the third is the adaptation of the Breonna Taylor law, after Louisville Police shot and killed her in her apartment while executing a search warrant.
“To show one, that they support the Black Lives Matter movement, and they do care about black citizens that live in their state and their cities, as well as the fact also to show that they’re not racist,” Constance Every with Black Coffee Justice said.
Event organizers say they’ve been planning this rally for months, but they were certainly impacted by last week’s riots at the U.S. Capitol.
“Black people always have to be above reproach when making their demands and showing the oppression and systemic racisms that they are facing, while our counterparts can do whatever they want with impunity,” event organizer C-Grimey Williams said.
“Again, if you live in America, it is clear we have a racism problem, and what we saw in Washington D.C… can no longer ignore that problem,” Every said.