Being Black In America: 'We Have A Place In This World Too'
Editor's note: NPR will be continuing this conversation about Being Black in America online and on air.
As protests continue around the country against systemic racism and police brutality, black Americans describe fear, anger and a weariness about tragic killings that are becoming all too familiar.
"I feel helpless. Utterly helpless," said Jason Ellington of Union, N.J. "Black people for generations have been reminding the world that we as a people matter — through protests, sit-ins, boycotts and the like. We tried to be peaceful in our attempts. But as white supremacy reminds us, their importance — their relevance — comes with a healthy dose of violence and utter disrespect for people of color like me."
For more than a week, tens of thousands of people have thronged cities nationwide, staging protests. The demonstrations were triggered by the death of 46-year-old George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. Floyd, a black man, died while a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.
The protests also reflect outrage over the while he was jogging through a Glynn County, Ga., neighborhood in February. Three white, a 26-year-old black woman who was shot and killed in her apartment by police in Louisville, Ky., in March.
