Submitted by event organizers

Join your local community as it peacefully protests in solidarity with Black lives across the nation at 6 p.m. on June 5 at the Friday Harbor Courthouse.

This will be a peaceful protest, bring signs, wear your face covering, everyone is welcome.

The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, is the latest in a long and tragic series of events that lay bare the shameful legacy of America’s treatment of Black people. Since being brought here as slaves, our laws and culture have systematically devalued the lives of African-Americans in myriad ways, from extrajudicial murder at the hands of police to disproportionate arrest and punishment in the legal system and prejudicial policies in the financial system.

The violence you see in the streets is a direct echo of the violence that has been done to Black people in this country for centuries. It is a direct echo of the Tulsa massacre of 1921 when airplanes dropped firebombs on the city’s Black business district. It is a direct echo of the MOVE bombing of 1985, where Philadelphia police bombed a Black radical movement headquarters and destroyed 65 homes. The war you see in the streets now is a war America has been waging on Black people on its own soil for our entire lives.

The phrase “Black Lives Matter” is a response to America trying to show over and over that they do not, by ending them.

Until Black Lives Matter, you can’t say that all lives matter.

We hope to not only show that Friday Harbor stands in solidarity with communities around the country in protesting the murder of George Floyd, but also open a dialogue on how each and every one of us can work to create a fair, just and equitable world. This is a non-partisan, non-political event that all Friday Harbor citizens are welcome to attend.

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/2321170574846344/.