Monrovia – Liberians under the banner the African People Movement on Monday, June 8, 2020 hosted a memorial service in honor of the late George Floyd, the African American who died in police custody in the United States of America.
The group, dressed in black, at the early morning hours performed the memorial service near the United States Embassy in the Mamba Point community to show solidarity for Floyd whose death has taken center stage with sweeping protests around the world.
Although there was no representative from the US Embassy present but the group mustered the courage and chanted battle cry: “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, black lives matter, black lives matter.”
Giving the overview of the program, Arthur J. Wahwehlee, Jr. said Africans have been beaten for so long adding that it is time to shift the paradigm.
According to Wahwehlee, after more than 60 years of the signing of the document of the African Union (AU), black man is still being ill-treated in the America and African leaders are sitting mute on such inhuman act.
“The commemoration of today’s event is beyond the incident that was witnessed on the day of Africa Union. This day was critically set aside for us to reflect on the 400 years of brutality, of suppression and oppression of this black race.”
Mary Kerkula, A University of Liberia Student
“We Africans are sad, we have been beaten for so long and it is sad that today our brother George Floyd is no more but his death will change things around,” Wahwehlee said.
Also speaking, Mary Kerkula, a student of the University of Liberia and member of the African People Movement said the killing of Floyd should remind black compatriots that they have their own solution in their hands.
The death of Floyd she says should not be ignored by black people around the globe adding that it is not the first black to be brutalized.
“The commemoration of today’s event is beyond the incident that was witnessed on the day of Africa Union. This day was critically set aside for us to reflect on the 400 years of brutality, of suppression and oppression of this black race,” Miss Kerkula said.
She added: “This day is set aside that as black people; we have our solution in our hands and this day is set aside to commemorate our fallen heroes who George Floyd has followed.”
“A threat to black man anywhere is a threat to Africans everywhere and this spirit of solidarity must not be the end but must begin to remind our conscious of how oppressed we have been and every black man has the right to unbend himself from the chin of slavery,” Kerkula said.