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American Racial Justice Movements Shape Change

Chris Simkins

   WASHINGTON - With the loud chants of demonstrators nearby, Joyce
   Johnson gazed at the stone statue of civil rights leader Martin Luther
   King Jr. in Washington, D.C.

   "I wish Dr. King were here now," she said. "He would be proud to see
   people from all backgrounds, from all over the country, peacefully
   protesting for racial justice and equal rights."

   Johnson, a social worker from Richmond, Virginia, traveled to the
   nation's capital on Sunday to join thousands of demonstrators marching
   against the arrest captured on video of George Floyd, the 46-year-old
   African American man who died in police custody after a white
   Minneapolis officer held a knee on his neck for almost nine minutes.

   Weeks of demonstrations in communities across the county that
   spontaneously began after Floyd's death have not been seen in
   generations. Floyd's death marks another watershed moment in America's
   struggle for equal rights and racial justice.

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