Edgewood Rally Brings Peaceful Protest Following Floyd Murder

EDGEWOOD, MD — Walking peacefully side by side, chanting “no justice, no peace," dozens of protesters spent Sunday walking along a highway with a police escort in Edgewood in response to last week’s police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Sunday’s protest was organized by the Mothers Of Murdered Sons And Daughters and brought activists and neighbors together to rally against Floyd’s death in police custody. The death of the Minneapolis man has sparked both peaceful demonstrations and violent rioting alike across the country. One Minneapolis police officer has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

In response to last week’s incident in Minneapolis, Sunday’s Edgewood event was called the “Momma I Can’t Breathe” rally.

“One man can’t change everything, one man is not an island, no man stands alone,” Mothers Of Murdered Sons And Daughters co-founder Daphne Alston said the crowd at Sunday’s event, according to WMAR. “But one man did stand alone, he chose to put his foot in somebody's neck, and he changed a whole nation.”

Alston said while the country is already being gripped by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, similar attention needs to be paid to the violence and racism that continues to permeate the nation.

“So as America is looking for a cure to the COVID, black America is looking for a cure for this racism and these systemic issues you all have placed upon us,” Alston said at the rally, according to WMAR. “We want a vaccination for that now.”