A virtual “George Floyd Remembrance Vigil and Community Discussion” event has been set up for 3 p.m. Sunday (May 31) on the Zoom platform.
The event is open to the public. It is intended “to show our community’s solidarity in seeking justice and to honor the memory of George Floyd,” according to a UW-Eau Claire press release sent on behalf of the groups organizing this event.
State Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire) and other community members are scheduled to speak at Sunday’s event.
Organizers are also asking Eau Claire residents to put candles in their windows Sunday night in Floyd’s memory, to show their stand against his murder and to remember him as a gentle giant who was known to a number of people in Eau Claire from his job at a Salsa club.
“We want a dialogue with the police through this forum where we come together to prevent this stuff from happening,” said UW-EC Prof. Selika Ducksworth-Lawton, a co-organizer of the event. “We want people to join both the Zoom event and the related ‘Light Eau Claire.’”
The Sunday events are sponsored by Uniting Bridges, UW-EC Anti-Racist Faculty and Staff, and UW-Eau Claire’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Student Affairs Division.
Organizers said they are committed to standing against the corruption that allowed the officer who killed Floyd to escape justice for more than 10 years.
“Our black communities here are hurting. Our multicultural communities are scared,” the press release added.
“We have an opportunity to be proactive here. We should take it,” Ducksworth-Lawton said.
She said she hopes to make the event more accessible by persuading local stations to broadcast it, according to the Volume One website, which also noted that the goal is to spark inclusive conversations about social justice in the Chippewa Valley.
The afternoon event can be joined at https://www.facebook.com/events/284505526057113/. More information is available from Ducksworth-Lawton at selikad@yahoo.com or 715-858-4024.
Note: the home page image was created by Minneapolis artist Andres Guzman and adapted for Facebook by event co-organizer Aja St. Germaine, a third-year UW-EC student.