Man completes 1,000-mile trek from Alabama to Minnesota for racial equality
Source: The Hill
Aris Folley 6 hrs ago
An Alabama man has finished a 1,000-mile trek from his state to Minnesota as part of a march for racial equality following the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other African Americans.
Terry Willis, a 35-year-old business owner from Huntsville, finished the long walk on Sunday at the location where Floyd died in Minneapolis in late May, according to NPR News.
Willis said in a statement that he was "marching for change, justice and equality" and added that he embarked on the journey to do his "part by joining the fight for my brothers and sisters across this country starting with George."
As a Black man and father raising a Black son, Willis said the recent police killings of Floyd, Taylor and the case of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man whose family said he was gunned down while jogging in Georgia earlier this year, made him feel "a plethora of mixed emotions: angry, frustrated, confused, sad."
"This could've been me, my family or friends. I knew I had to do something," he continued.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/man-completes-1000-mile-trek-from-alabama-to-minnesota-for-racial-equality/ar-BB16Etf3?li=BBnb7Kz
The killing of George Floyd
Photos: After walking 1,000 miles, Alabama man reaches Floyd memorial in Minneapolis
MPR News StaffJuly 12, 2020 6:25 p.m.
Terry Willis marches next to 10-month-old Dehvi Porter and his parents, Alicia Bump (right) and Donzay Porter (center) on Sunday. Willis walked more than 1,000 miles from his home in Alabama to the site where George Floyd was killed at 38th and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis. Willis made the journey to protest racial injustice and police violence.Ben Hovland for MPR News
After seeing video of the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, Terry Willis felt compelled to do something.
Something to bring more attention to racial injustice, and police violence against Black people.
So the Alabama man started walking on June 2 in Huntsville. And on Sunday, more than 1,000 miles later, he reached the George Floyd memorial site in south Minneapolis.
"Watching him get murdered, I felt like that was the last straw and I needed to do something. And as one man I felt like I wanted to do something drastic to get the attention and the awareness on the change that we need, so I decided to walk a thousand miles across the country," he told MPR News ahead of the final leg of his journey.
More:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/07/12/photos-after-walking-1000-miles-alabama-man-reaches-floyd-memorial-in-minneapolis
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