Vigils Sweep the Country to Remember Victims of Police Violence

By Jamilah King Aug 15, 2014

Thousands of people took to the streets of American cities on Thursday night to remember the victims of police violence. They hoisted the names of images of people whose youth and blackness made them targets: Mike Brown, Ezell Ford, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin. And they wondered aloud if they, or their brothers or cousins or best friends, would be next.

The events represented an almost unprecedented degree of quick-thinking online organizing led by Feminista Jones. Protestors took to the streets of cities like New York, Chicago, Oakland, Denver and Decatur to stand in solidarity with residents of Ferguson, the St. Louis suburb that’s been awash in demonstrations and police violence since an officer shot and killed unarmed 18-year-old Mike Brown last Saturday.

Here are some of the images from last night’s vigils.