COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Columbus Urban League and the Columbus Urban League Young Professionals are calling for a nationwide economic protest by asking people not to go to work on June 1.
The call comes after days of protests across the country, including in Columbus, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last Monday.
“The police brutality that has sparked protests around the country is just the tip of the iceberg of the systemically racist system, which is the root cause,” said Columbus Urban League Young Professionals President Nick Bankston.
Columbus Urban League President and CEO Stephanie Hightower issued the following statement:
“I stand with our young professionals and their call for a ‘Black Out’ day. Recent protests and controversies around the country should not diminish nor dull the critical issue: We have a moral imperative as Americans to collectively stand up, speak out and stop bigotry now. I implore our major employers and business leaders to lean in and lift up our families, white, black and brown. This cause and these events echo those that led to the creation of the United
States 244 years ago, when one of our founders said we should hang together, or surely hang alone. Let’s be sure that our pursuit of justice and equity resounds far more loudly today and tomorrow, than the deafening silence too often chosen in our past.”
Protests have been held in Columbus on four consecutive days.
Derek Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd's death.
Chauvin was captured on camera kneeling on Floyd’s neck while he was pleading, “I can’t breathe,” according to the criminal complaint.
