Black Lives Matter: Voices and Scenes from Protests with the Peace Corps Community
George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Tony McDade. Elijah McClain. A fraction of a terrible litany of Black lives taken by police. Since Memorial Day Returned Volunteers have been on the streets to join protests—and lead them. “Racism cannot be cured solely by attacking some of the results it produces, like discrimination in housing or in education ... We must also treat the disease of racism itself.” —Sargent Shriver | Founder of the Peace Corps, in a speech at the First National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice, 1958 Elizabeth Smith went to Myanmar in January to serve as a Volunteer. When...
I’m Tired
Reasons why. And some serious advice. It’s a matter of life and death. By Missi Smith ON MEMORIAL DAY a Black man named George Floyd was senselessly murdered in broad daylight on a Minneapolis street corner by a now former police officer. In the immediate wake of this completely avoidable tragedy, Minneapolis was rocked by protests, looting, and riots — exacerbated by ineffective leadership from all levels of our government, including detrimental interference from the White House. Yet Floyd’s killing has also launched a global movement in some 50 countries. I’m a Minnesota native. As a child, I attended my...