Official Black Lives Matter Memphis
A candlelight vigil honoring women of color who have lost their lives during encounters with law enforcement will be held by members of the Official Black Lives Matter Memphis chapter and grassroots organization Memphis Feminist Collective, this Thursday, October 6.
The vigil will be held at 6:00 p.m. in front the Planned Parenthood health center at 2430 Poplar
Ave.
It will be the latest example of a visible action in Memphis that is organized by two or more
social justice organizations, and according to members of both, combining
efforts is key to amplifying awareness across lines.
“We have to stand together to raise visibility,” said Briana Perry, an organizer with
BLM Memphis. “The Memphis Feminist Collective has an intersectional
approach, and so do we.”
Perry notes that the vigil is necessary because stories of women of color losing their lives in
police encounters are often left out of the media spotlight amid the coverage
of unarmed black men being killed by police.
Also integral to Thursday’s vigil is the inclusion of transgender women.
“We support women, and transgender women are women,” said Sarah Rose Cullen, an
organizer with MFC. “They’re statistically more likely to be killed in encounters with police as compared to a cisgender white male.”
Thursday’s vigil will also call attention to the case of Bresha Meadows, the Ohio teen who
killed her allegedly abusive father and is awaiting trial where she may be
tried as an adult.
