Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement and the chair of Reform L.A. Jails, told “Nightline” that at the core of …
Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement and the chair of Reform L. A. Jails, told “Nightline” that at the core of what protesters across the country are demanding, it is accountability.
“They want to see the arrest of all the officers involved [in the murder of George Floyd]. They want to have no more terror, no more police terror in their communities,” Cullors said. “Everybody wants to be apologized to. Everybody wants to be told, ‘I’m sorry. What I did was wrong. It was unacceptable. We don’t do it again and, in fact, this is how we change.’”
But grieving communities don’t often receive that kind of apology and acknowledgement, she said.
“We barely get a sorry, we rarely get accountability and we never get change,” she said. “So what are people to do?”
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Cullors says these demonstrations are not just about mourning the death of black individuals but also protests “for black life.” She said “tens of thousands” of people marched peacefully with her over the weekend but it was the police who “escalated,” she said.
“Police came in riot gear, started shooting people with rubber bullets, tear gassing people, batoning people. It was incredibly aggressive,” she said. “It went from zero to 100. How did that happen?… Across the country, we’ve seen police aggravate and be the aggressors in protests.”
Cullors says she is “absolutely and always pushing peace.”
“That peace looks like requiring law enforcement to discontinue using violence.
