The number of protester arrests continues to grow in the wake of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile’s unwarranted deaths, numbering over 120 this week. This includes DeRay McKesson, notable leader in the Black Lives Matter movement and contender in the recent election for Baltimore mayor.
In addition to graphic videos of police violence revealing Sterling and Castile’s fatal shootings this week, we’ve seen SWAT teams push protesters back on their own property, witnessed the maddening frustration of riot gear at peaceful demonstrations, and felt the deep grief of perpetual loss in the black community and in the country.
Through this chaos, protests have remained, for the most part, peaceful; the movement is resilient; people of color continue to fight for their lives and their peace. The top image was shot in Baton Rouge during a major protest blocking Airline Highway and it truly embodies the heart of this movement. Iesha Evans, a 24-year-old mother of one, stands calm in the face of impending force on her body. Police in riot gear charge forward towards her, but she looks fearlessly forward.
Iesha is from New York, a nurse’s assistant, who decided to become active in the Black Lives Matter movement after Alton Sterling was shot and killed, leaving his children behind. This was her first protest. In her will against systemic force, she became a part of a legendary photograph that is coming to define this fight for justice.
Images via Twitter
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