INDIANAPOLIS — A peaceful demonstration was held Saturday at The Fashion Mall at Keystone.
Demonstrators wanted to call attention to ongoing issues of police brutality and what some are saying are unsafe conditions for those working in retails stores during the COVID-19 pandemic.
About 30 people with The We Coalition through the Serving Up Justice initiative took part in a silent sit-in at the mall in solidarity with employees who were walking out of work.
You can read the statement sent to RTV6 from The We Coalition on the demonstration below:
On July 11, 2020 from 12:00pm-1:00pm at the Keystone Fashion Mall, The We Coalition, through our Serving Up Justice initiative, will be conducting a peaceful, silent sit-in in solidarity with a mall-wide employee walk-out. Our demonstration intends to shed light on the ongoing issues of police brutality and the unsafe working conditions experienced by service and retail workers during a global pandemic.
Racial injustice is deeply systemic, while we work in solidarity against police brutality it is important to acknowledge that there is racism present at every level of every societal and economic system.
COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting communities of color and the working poor, while this country's administration is strong-arming state and local governments to reopen their economies. According to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll, nearly 1/3 of Black Americans know someone who has died of Coronavirus. It is too easy for some people to pretend that there is nothing problematic about going to a mall, or going out to eat, or getting a haircut - pretending that everything is normal while the American death toll approaches 140,000.
As the financial provisions from the CARES Act (intended to keep American people and business afloat) fall away, workers are forced into scenarios where they have to choose between risking their health or their financial security. Employers are asking their employees to shoulder the burden of keeping businesses afloat instead of demanding that the government protect its people. This is absolutely unacceptable in the nation with the largest GDP in the world.
We intend to conduct these demonstrations frequently and in different areas around the City of Indianapolis and the surrounding metropolitan area for the foreseeable future or until change happens.
Extra security from the mall was present during the demonstration, but they allowed the demonstration to happen without interruptions, the group tells RTV6.
