 Saturday June 27th - Hundreds of protesters show up with cans of red paint painting the streets in front of the District Attorney's office. Sofia Alcala walked across the sea of red paint flowing across the asphalt and shouted "much more fucking accurate,” a reference to the values displayed on the building. The crowd chanted, "Too Much Blood," referencing the deaths of members of the community who have died at the hands of police. The organizers used the growing public outrage shown for George Floyd's death to shed light on the killing of Bernardo Palacios. They were able to receive crowds of allies because Floyd’s death brought national attention to police brutality. Their community is only able to seek justice for a brown person because a Black person died.
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A memorial commemorating George Floyd in downtown Salt Lake City was found vandalized Sunday morning. The Memorial is located at 800 South and 300 West and was found splattered with black tar! This memorial was in remembrance of his death due to police brutality. The community is hard at work trying to restore this symbolic memorial for the injustice in America against the black community.  PROVO, Utah – A statue of Brigham Young that stands in front of the Abraham O. Smoot Administration Building at BYU was vandalized sometime between June 14 – 15, police said. BYU police Lt. Rich Christianson said the vandals used red spray paint to write the word “racist” on the statue. The suspects also attempted to cover the statue in red latex paint. Christianson said it appeared to have been “done in haste.” “It was kind of a hit-and-run type of deal,” he said. Campus crews were able to clean the statue off the morning of June 15. Christianson said the vandalism is currently under investigation, and no suspects have been named. A group of university students recently started a petition to rename the administration building due to its namesake’s ties to slavery. As of Friday afternoon, the petition had garnered nearly 400 signatures.
Abraham O. Smoot was the first head of the Board of Trustees of Brigham Young University, as well as a Provo mayor. According to the Third District Court in Salt Lake County, three individuals were listed as “property” of Smoot upon his death.
“There is a big push around the country to remove all statues or anything that commemorates somebody who basically didn’t stand for what we stand for now,” BYU student Cole Stewart-Johnson said. “Although [Smoot] did make a big contribution we can talk about him, we can mention him, but we aren’t going to idealize someone who enslaved others in the past.” The petition focused on renaming the Smoot Administration Building and does not call for the removal of the Brigham Young Statue.
 So many outside influences that would cause each and every one of you not to be here today. I can say that I almost didn’t come out here today, I almost didn’t organize this event. I was afraid… I was afraid of the judgment, of what other people thought about me speaking out against the blatant acts of hatred towards people of color. I felt shame in the sense that it was not the right thing to support. That my opinion did not matter. Then I came to the realization that these were not my own feelings, not my own thoughts. These were ideological views of some of the closest people to me, my family. Now I was adopted by white parents at birth and growing up I was not cognizant of the color of people's skin. I saw myself as a person, colorless. And I mean that in the sense that my skin color has no real meaning on who I am as an Individual. I could see how people treated my Mom and my Dad differently, then they treated me. I could not understand why at that time. It's only in recent years that I came to the realization that racism and racial prejudice to people of color is still real here in America. That needs to change and that starts with us! That starts with not being afraid to speak out against what is wrong! No matter the consequences of your actions. That means standing up against your friends, and family, your Mom or your Dad. You can’t just embody the feelings when you're out here! You have to embrace this in all aspects of your life. That means truly speaking out and standing up for this movement. Put words into actions, show the world you mean to make the change happen! Now antagonism comes in all shapes and sizes, it might be as blatant and predominant as being shot on the street. It can come in subtle forms, and that does not make it more acceptable. In one of the companies, I worked at I was the best sales rep in the entire organization and my manager along with several other executives verbally assaulted me with racial slurs to the point I did not feel safe to work there. When I first started there I thought it was because I had not proven my worth, I had earned my right to be there. So I didn't think anything of it. I was ignorant to the fact that I did not think people were still racist. So used the hatred that they showed me as fuel my success to become the best in the company. I thought it would end once I got to the top but it just got worse to the point they were going out of their way to get me fired! I went home every night for months with so much frustration and confusion to the point the back of my neck would heat up in pure anger towards the situation. I realized that I could not continue to work there any longer. So I quit! A few months later, my manager had made up so many lies about why I left that they came after me for a non compete. Which then I filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for Harassment and Discrimination against the company and won the case. This is why I am here today, this is why I am organizing this protest. I want the black community to have equal opportunities for employment. To not have to worry about whether or not he or she will be racially profiled by the police. To be treated unfairly based on skin color alone is not right! We are all here to make changes happen and I thank you for that!  |
 
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