The protests have officially passed the week-long mark, but that hasn’t stopped anyone from continuing to ask for reforms and justice for the killing of George Floyd and countless other black citizens unjustly slain at the hands of racial inequity.
In a world still rampant with coronavirus outbreaks, there are immuno-compromised individuals who cannot march, but still want to advocate. We’ve provided a list of black businesses to support, a resource guide for black organizations and other measures and now, the Denver Creative Industries Alliance has introduced a statement, set to be read to the Denver City Council, highlighting the measures they’d like the police to take moving forward. To support, all you have to do is sign on the dotted line.
Photo Courtesy of Roux Black’s Facebook
Headed by Ru Johnson, founder of Roux Black, an arts and entertainment consulting company for local black artists, the Denver Creative Industries Alliance aims to “provide recommendations and demand action around reform and police brutality,” as stated in their Facebook page. There are 20 other individuals from the creative industry involved in the design of this document including, to name a few — Leah Concialdi from local band ATOMGA, Mona Magno, solo artist and Youth on Record instructor, Kori Hazel, talent buyer for 303 Magazine and local band manager and Montyy Taj, founder of the Comfortably Excluded podcast.
“The Denver Creative Industries Alliance was born out of a need to hear from voices across a wide spectrum of the arts and culture scene. We want to bring our voices together to call for change in a way we believe will be impactful; with political power, radical change and a place for us all to exist in our cities without fear of police brutality and violence. The killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department was the case that brought us all together but many of us have been activists in these spaces for quite some time. This is a chance to take our work farther, together,” said Johnson.
Some of the recommendations listed include the dropping of all charges and the release of all protestors in jail, racial sensitivity training for police officers and full transparency from law enforcement regarding officer-led violence against protestors and residents of Colorado. The statement aims to present a case of standards to the council representatives to spark them to enact change in the law enforcement policies currently implementd around Colorado.
“As creatives in Denver, we come from all walks of life and have a broad range of platforms we can use to collectively amplify our voices. I joined Denver Creative Industries Alliance not just because my musical projects and affiliated organizations are strongly rooted in black music and black culture, but because it’s a matter of life or death. Until there is an immense reform in how we structure our police forces to hold them accountable and ensure policies are transparent, everything else is trivial,” said Concialdi.
The statement will be presented to the Denver City Council today.
To read the full statement and sign click here.