Families of Police Shooting Victims Rally Voters in Chicago

Jacob Blake Sr. listens to a speech during a Get Out The Vote (GOTV) rally in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. The families of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Alvin Cole and Jacob Blake encouraged residents to vote. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

CHICAGO (AP) — Family members of three people who were victims of police actions gathered Thursday in a Chicago park for a get out the vote rally.

The relatives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake gathered with others in Grant Park to promote voting and to use their relatives’ fates to promote social change.

Breonna Taylor was shot to death by Louisville police earlier this year. Her aunt, Stephanie Baskin, said her family stands in solidarity with the Blake and Floyd families. She also said there are too many other victims of police violence.

“The fact that there are too many to remember is the reason why we all have to get out and vote, because what we’re finding more and more every day is that they have these laws designed to continue to keep their knee on our neck, to continue to hold us back, to continue to keep us in a place that they thought that we were going to stay in,” Baskin said. “But we’re not. We’re going to us our voices at the polls.”

George Floyd ’s younger brother, Philonese Floyd, urged voters to think about their children’s future, taxes, raising the minimum wage and Medicaid when they go to the polls.

“Don’t listen to people when they say, ‘Your vote doesn’t matter.’ Your voice won’t be heard,” added Philonese Floyd, who wore a face mask emblazoned with “8:46,” the length of time that the Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck.

“If people can stand for hours in a line to get new Air Jordan tennis shoes, stand in lines to get in clubs, camp out for Black Friday discounts, then I know that you should be able and willing to stand and vote,” he said.

Jacob Blake Sr., the father of the man shot and paralyzed by an officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, earlier this year, said he and Blake’s other relatives attended the rally in solidarity with the other families attending the event.

“If we do not get up and we do not stand for justice, then what are we?” Jacob Blake Sr. asked rhetorically, his voice rising. “We are fake, pretenders. I do not pretend to do what I do.”

The rally also featured get out the vote video messages from California senator and Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and members of the band the Black Eyed Peas.