“Black lives matter is more than a trend it’s more than the newest hashtag going around. It’s the principal of what’s wrong and what’s right,” Fr. RaMya Kennedy said.  

In Wichita we may not see as much police brutality as in other bigger states but there are still some. As big as it is in L.A and Chicago, but it still affects people here.  

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a movement formed to campaign against systemic racism and violence against black people. In July of 2013, Black Lives Matter became an official movement, founded by community activists Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors on social media. 

After Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman, “#BLM” started trending on social media.  Over this past summer, BLM became more of a worldwide movement following the death of George Floyd.

Floyd died after a confrontation with some police officers that was caught on cell phone video. In the videos you hear people shouting at the Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, to get off of Floyd’s neck. Floyd can also be heard in the video saying “I can’t breathe,” something that became a chant at many protests.

Some of the protests in Minneapolis got very dangerous. Then police stations started to get burned down and other local businesses.  

Wichita even had a few protests. They were peaceful until one night the Quik Trip on 29th and Arkansas got broken into and looted. However most were peaceful and energetic. 

“The atmosphere was great, it felt empowering and purposeful there was a lot of unity in it,” Sr. Rone Smith said.