'Say Her Name' March In Boston Honors Black Women Killed By Police Officers
BOSTON (CBS) -- Hundreds of people marched from Roxbury's Nubian Square to the Boston Common Saturday to support the Black Lives Matter movement and to honor the lives of Black women killed by police officers.
Some marchers at the peaceful "Say Her Name" demonstration carried "Defund The Police" signs, but the purpose of the march was to uplift Black women and Black voices. At Nubian Square, people chanted the names of Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old killed in March by Louisville police executing a "no-knock" warrant, and Sandra Bland, who was found dead in a Texas jail cell in 2015 after recording her controversial traffic stop on her phone.
One Black woman told WBZ-TV's Tiffany Chan that she decided to march on July 4th, when many celebrate Independence Day with cookouts and fireworks, because she doesn't feel there's anything to celebrate. She said as a Black Woman, her freedoms are stunted.
"I feel like our freedoms as Black Americans are very stunted and that's because of the systematic oppression and racial pressure that we face," she said. "It brings so much solidarity and comfort to know that people during this time, during this pandemic. . . it's a time of reflection and what's going on."
Another protester said she was "invigorated" by the march.
"Black women and Black trans women are the most oppressed people in this country and we need to push for their voices and we won't be free until they're free," she said.