Activists gathered in cities around the country yesterday (May 19) for a national day of action protesting state violence against Black women, making #SayHerName a Twitter trending topic in the process.
Many of yesterday’s actions were organized in part by a collective that includes Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), Project South, Ferguson Action and the Black Lives Matter network. Organizers with other groups, such as those from the Bay Area Dream Defenders who organized a rally in support of three girls who drowned in Florida during a police chase, planned parallel actions. From Los Angeles to New York, Chicago to New Orleans, activists gathered to highlight police and White supremacist violence against Black women, as well as state complicity in apparent cover-ups. Yesterday’s actions echo similar ones last year. Social media users amplified the actions with their own tweets, which were hashtagged #SayHerName. Check out some of those tweets, including photos and video from the actions and statistics about state violence against Black women:
Currently in Brooklyn for a #SayHerName demonstration: pic.twitter.com/13MVYr8Ew7
— The Movement (@TheMovement) May 19, 2016
#SayHerName because Black women, girls, & femmes are the fastest growing population in the prison industrial complex pic.twitter.com/XHz2Xqbe4I
— BYP100 (@BYP_100) May 18, 2016
Toya from @StandwDignity and @BYP_100 leading NOLA #SayHerName at Claiborne & Ursuline where #PennyProud was killed. pic.twitter.com/Yv5G3U7uVF
— Show Me $15 (@Show_Me15) May 20, 2016
The facts. #SayHerName pic.twitter.com/iYRUAuFuJ2
— The Movement (@TheMovement) May 19, 2016
Why #BlackLivesMatter & other organizations have teamed up to make today the national #SayHerName Day of Action: https://t.co/ynoocaCXV7
— MTV News (@MTVNews) May 19, 2016
This Nat’l #SayHerName Day of Action, we must commit to fighting the systemic racism & sexism that women of color face every day in America.
— Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) May 19, 2016
#SayHerName means following leadership of yung Blk queer & trans women to call for an end to violence against Blk women, girls & femmes.
— BYP100 (@BYP_100) May 20, 2016
Oh, I looooove being Black! #SayHerName #NewOrleans pic.twitter.com/LXvQjphOnG
— BYP100 (@BYP_100) May 20, 2016
Our #SayHerName altar at the @BLMUpstateNY Town Hall #JessieHernandez #RekiaBoyd #IndiaCummings pic.twitter.com/KNN6YbhPyD
— BLMUpstateNY (@BLMUpstateNY) May 20, 2016
Bay Area Dream Defenders hosting #sayhername rally in Largo in honor of 3 teens who drowned in St. Petersburg pond pic.twitter.com/XvdK6OMZlc
— Tony Marrero (@TMarreroTimes) May 19, 2016