It’s such a powerful through line between George Floyd lying on that street saying, “I can’t breathe,” and Eric Garner^]on a street in Staten Island in 2014 saying, “I can’t breathe.” And it’s important for us to remember that what we see today is built on the platform of what we saw in Ferguson and what we saw in Baltimore. It’s built on the platform of seeing Walter Scott running in that park in North Charleston. It’s built on the platform of seeing Terence Crutcher, with his hands up, shot by Betty Shelby in Tulsa. And it’s built on the platform of watching Ahmaud Arbery^[8] essentially hunted weeks before. I think some people think that the activism went away, but it didn’t. –SHERRILYN IFILLpresident, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

If you’re going to march, you do it. You go looking for peace, you try to make sure you keep the peace, keep your individuals that are with you, that are joining in, you try to keep them on track. And you just get started and let the emotion lead you. –BRUCE WILSONBlack Lives Matter activist, Greenville, South Carolina

I was told that the D.A. had a press conference, had said that there may have been contrary evidence suggesting what we saw on the tape wasn’t all there was to it. I started calling Keith Ellison, who I’d known since he was in Congress. I said to him, “Keith, why aren’t you, as attorney general, able to take the case?” And he said, “I can’t take the case unless it’s given to me. I understand your trepidation with the D.A., but I have no authority unless it’s given to me.” I said, “Well, maybe we need to help give it to you.” And he said, “I can’t get into that, Rev.” That’s when I called the governor. The governor returned the call, and Keith was on the phone, and the governor said, “I can assure you, Reverend, we’re going to have a full investigation, and we’ll work with the D.A.” And I said, “Well, I’m troubled by what the D.A. said. There’s trouble in the feeling on the ground about the D.A. And I recommend that you give the case to the attorney general.” He was noncommittal. He said, “I register what you are saying. Others have said it.” And he said, “We’ll get back with you. But I assure you, we’re never gonna sweep this under the rug.”AL SHARPTONMSNBC host; founder, National Action Network

In my mind, in my opinion, the most beautiful form of protest that happened out in Minneapolis was that police station burning because it said directly from the public to the police, we will accept this no longer. People were finally angry enough not to care about AutoZone, not Target, but to take it directly to government. We pay people to quote-unquote govern us. And that government has become evil, maniacal, and manipulative; it is our duty to burn down the government.
KILLER MIKErapper and activist