 As a black woman and as founder and president of Sisters Empowering Hawaii and host of Sister Power, I stand with all those across the country who seek to peacefully demonstrate their outrage against the institutionalized violence that took the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and so many others. There is a deep sense of pain and anguish in a moment like this, where the names are different but the story is the same. There is no acceptable explanation for the sheer brutality we see in our world. There is no acceptable justification for the bigotry and racism that leave black bodies unprotected and unsafe. Black women are not going to be invisible. Our history matters and we matter. I can't breathe black women raising black sons and daughters speak out. Our team at Sister Power is honored to have three esteemed, fought-provoking women. Watering Keith Banks from Kansas City, June Fletcher Dennis from Surprise, Arizona, and Mary Ann Holland from Nashville, Tennessee come together to discuss the ongoing issues of killing black men and women and specifically how it affects women. Ladies, welcome to Sister Power. Thank you. Thank you. So glad you're here. Aloha. That's right. Aloha. You know, you ladies have been my friends for over 20-some years. Walterine, maybe 40, 50 years. And this is, you know, we'll do something else on another occasion where we're not talking about something that's so painful. But on May 20, no, yeah. Yeah, it was May 25, 2020, the world witness a modern-day lynching. George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed by a white police officer. And it keeps going in my head. This young man was saying, please, please. Now, see, this gentle giant was even in his worst time. He was so polite. He said, please, please, I can't breathe. And then he called out to his mothers. Ladies, I want you to speak out on that. And Walterine, I want to start with you. First of all, I want to say thank you for this opportunity, Sharon, for having this forum that we can come together. Too often times, I pray the prayer of Lord, help me to feel the pain and the hurt of others so I can be assistant to them. On that day, I felt his pain. As a black mother, I felt his cry. I began to cry and I remember my son says to me, why are you crying? And I said, because I hear this, it could have been your son. Well, it could have been your nephew, but it was my son. It was my nephew. His blood runs through my veins. He was a black man. So I felt his hurt. I felt his pain. June, you have a son and a grandson. You know, I was on the phone with you and Walterine when I heard about this. So I watched it later and I sat there and my husband hadn't seen it yet. And I was just still. I couldn't believe that we are still watching this. It was just hard to believe and I did cry and I did think about my son and my brothers in the neighborhood I grew up in because in 1965, I remember during the Watts riot how that affected me. I was 12 then and I was traumatized by it. And here we are years later still dealing with this. And so I was sad, but I was just angry. And now that it has the protest has continued on, I'm really happy that people are not letting it just mellow out. It's time. We should not have to come back to this again in the future. It should be growing and getting better from this point on. Yeah, Mary Ann. You know, June, I so hope and pray that we have arrived at that moment. You know, when I when the thought, you know, they came to mind for me when this happened to George, I thought of Emmett Till. I thought of Mamie Till. Yeah. Her 14 year old little boy. Yeah. And then I thought of Samaria Rice. Yeah, mother of Tamir Rice who was just 12 murdered by cops within three seconds while just sitting in a park. Yeah. And then I thought of Wanda Cooper Jones, the mother of Ahmad Aubrey, who was jogging. My mom was 25 years old. My son is 25 years old. He could have been jogging down the street in his neighborhood. Yeah. Tameka Palmer, who's the mother of Breonna Taylor, the EMT worker who shot in the bed. Yeah. She shot in the bed in her own home. So, you know, I and then I thought about George Floyd crying crying out for his mother, whose son was delivered to her a little over two weeks ago, his neck bruised with hate. And, you know, I just made he rest in peace and power. His name is being chanted all over the world now. And I'm hoping that people really are hearing hearing the message and finally get it that this has to stop. Yeah. Yeah, this was a shock to the world. And I want to show the viewers this mural from Belfast Black Lives Matter fight racism in North Ireland. This is a global shock, I should say, because the viewers who are watching had a chance to look in a monstrous eyes as he put his hand in his pocket and continually to put his get off. Get your knee off our neck. So moving on, you know, June, we have this conversation. June is married to a white man and her mother is white. And I asked her what kind of conversation did you have with your families after this horrific event? Well, my mom and I we talked about it and she was just broken. My mother is such a sweet, sweet spirit. I'm blessed that every time someone meets my mother, they always say, that's your mother. I love your mother. She's just a sweet spirit. She does not tolerate hate and pain. And she cried. And she just couldn't believe it. I mean, she's 86 years old. And she has seen all this as well. Married to my dad, a black man. And she just she just wants it to go away, you know, she's old school. Why can't people just treat people good? You know, why can't people be nice? Why can't people understand? But as a prayer warrior, my mom and I talked about something that we thought was very probably timely. And that is sometimes God brings a flux of things very subtly. And sometimes he brings them in a miracle. And sometimes he brings them very dramatically. And in this case, this was dramatic. I don't mean in the sense that that guy that the police officer had his knee. But I mean for the world at large, there is a change in the hearts of people all over this world. Even the Amish came out and they protested and they rarely get involved in anything. So, you know, I my prayer is that I, my organization, the world of junior girl is all about the art of loving people. And I don't know how else to describe it other than I want to believe that there's something is just a sliver of change. Just a sliver of change can make the world a better place. This has to be dealt with. We can't let it slide on. There's so many things that we have yet to do. There's so much planning. There's strategies. You've got black leadership that's coming on board. People are having conversations. I got a call today from someone I hadn't heard from in a long time, a relative of family, a white family. And they, I know the call came because they were thinking about me. That's what she said, how I'm doing. Well, we didn't talk about it, but I know that's what made them think about me, you know. So, yeah, you know, we just, I'm just honestly, I'm just wanting to believe that we will not have to go back again. I want to see this move forward. Yeah, we do too. Well, I feel shame for anyone who is not actively fighting for respect, inclusion and equality. And so, Walter Reed, how do we climb out of this abyss? You know, Sharon, it starts with education. Over the past few months, we have heard so many parents that are homeschooling their children and talking about the struggle at homeschooling. And a lot of times in the past, we hear individuals talk about why aren't they educating our children about black history. The fact is, we don't know where we're going. We won't have a vision if we don't know our past. And education begins at home. It's giving your children the opportunity to have self-worth, to know who invented the stoplight. Who is this man, George Carver Washington, my grandson is homeschooled. And he was just astonished at the fact that George Washington Carver didn't only make peanut butter, but he taught white settlers how to produce more to make more money. Our people have to have a vision. They have to have a vision. I know in different states, different counties, different cities, there are changes being made. I know here in Kansas City, they have been forced to now use body cameras. And if they're not using them, if they're turned off, there is a penalty. So there are some changes, but we have to stand as a community. We need togetherness to move forward because we saw there is power in numbers. Yeah, there is. You know, say her name, say her name. Black women have been common victims of police brutality for over a century. However, their stories are often left out of the mainstream narratives. So say her name is a movement that seeks to remind people that police brutality happens to black girls and women too. Mary Ann, say her name, say her name. Well, I'm going to say the name of my mama. June Irene Howland. She is a, you know, she she she she passed away last August. She was 92 years old. And I miss her, you know, dearly, but I'm glad that she left before she had to witness what we have all seen because she had to live it. And I can't imagine her living it again. You know, she was she went she comes, you know, from that era of, you know, the her lineage of her parents being, you know, slaves. And then she in addition to that had to endure, you know, the segregation era. And she was very damaged in a way from that. And over over the years, there were stories that she would tell and experiences that she had that you could tell that were so painful that they never left her and always. She had a bit of diminished self esteem because of the burden and the, the, the tragedy of being held back and oppressed in a way, which made me since I was because I saw it. In a way made me gave me my fight. It gave me the strength because I knew that I wanted to fight for her because of what she lived through. Yeah. I was going to be the catalyst for change that I defined my mission in life that we would not tolerate this anymore, which led to the work that I do around with the global diversity leadership exchange and working with business leaders, organizational leaders and helping to do the work around justice, equity, diversity and inclusion to fight for racial equality. And in fact, one of the things that happened, and I think Junior had mentioned this, I have received several phone calls from white men that had never happened to me before in my life. White men for, I mean, it was, it was my phone just kept ringing and text messages asking me how are you doing. But it was, it made me cry. I think I cried. I was crying. I mean, it's just my eyes were just swollen from crying all week because of one was the outpouring of compassion. But it was also that I had to tell the story of what I was feeling over and again, so I had to keep living it. So there came a point where I had to just not answer the phone anymore because I needed time to breathe. But one of the outcomes of that was one of my friends, my white, because from my perspective, critical to the change are white men. And so I challenged my friend, a white man, that you need to do something. You need to talk to your, to your brethren about, you know, behaving differently. And it's time. And he got it. And then out of that spark that group called hands out of our pockets, take, yep, taking the knee out of the necks of black people. And within a day of just making the decision to start that group, he was the, the, that group has grown to hundreds of men just like that. And it's been amazing. So what I think it gave me, you know, some sort of sense of hope that finally there's this opportunity. We have a real opportunity. Yeah, yeah, we're coming together here. I think, I think if we seize this moment when you look at all the protests in the streets, and we see that 70% of America is with us. And so I feel like we're on this trajectory and, and I'm committed to helping to do the work. And, and along with our, I challenged my allies, our white allies, I call them co-conspirators. Because I need you on the front line. I don't need you to stand beside me and go, yes, I agree. I need you on the front line. All right now. So that's, that's, that's the kind of work that I am, you know, that keeps me going. The helps me do this is just focusing on, okay, so what do we have to do? What do we have to, you know, it's a Marshall. Well, over the course of 17 days, we have heard the words enough is enough. That's right. We're constantly hearing eight minutes and 46 seconds. We're hearing get off your, get your knee off our neck. And I'm so proud of our young people. And did anyone have a chance to view how can we win by Kimberly Jones? Yeah. Yeah. And she says, you are a lucky black people. One equality and not revenge. What do you have to say about that, Walter? I did. I saw that you sent it and she is a powerful sister. We see powerful individuals coming up, speaking out. And we are not coming for revenge. We just want to be treated equally. Equally. You know, I want to tell this real quick. My daughter was in, I was in the car with my daughter, my sister, my seven year old nephew and 12 year old niece. And we were stopped on the highway. My daughter was driving. They asked her to step out. They put her on the ground on a interstate highway. They had a taser. Rowing the taser up over her. Another police officer came to the car with a gun pointed out at myself, my 62 year old daughter, my little nephew, my wife, my niece, and my little grandson. And they treated us as if we were, and I hate the word thug, so I'm not going to use it because who's to define who a thug is? There may be one in the White House. But with that being said, they treated us like that. And we had to prove that her tags were not stolen before they took the gun back. They stopped us because they said her tags were stolen. She didn't know what had happened. She didn't know what had happened. She was traumatized. And then they said, finally, well, you have stolen tags. All this, you have stolen tags. And I kind of laughed to myself, but not as a laughter. I said, you know what, sir? I know what happened. Notice went out in our neighborhood and said, watch your tags. People are taking tags. It had happened to the woman, our neighbor. And she, also a black female, was stopped in the suburbs of Kansas City, made to lay down on the sidewalk with seven cars of police officers because they thought her tags were stolen. That brings me to, they called the police on George Floyd for a $20 bill. This man lost his life over a $20 bill. And if I'm not mistaken, Harriet Tubman was supposed to be on that $20 bill, am I correct? So you see how many things that are coming to fruition. But June, what can we do where we are? Well, you know, when you talked about that young lady that made that video, and I watched it a couple of times because it was sent to me by a few different people. And when she started out, you know, I was, I fell in love with the way she was presenting it. And then she got down and dirty. And that's, and what, you know, people would like to say, well, you don't have to go there or, well, it's not that bad or, oh, you know, we are angry. We are angry. And just like she said, you bless that we are not going to revenge. We just want equality. There are people talking about strategies and coming up with plans, just like Mary Ann was talking about, you have to get in on the front line and you have to be a part of the solution because if you're not, you just are a part of the problem. And that's what people have to do. And I'm like you, I am so proud of young people. I'm so proud of the nation at large. And I'm so proud of the world because people everywhere see this and feel this. And even though it's Black Lives Matter for us here in America, there are issues like this in other countries as well. And so we have to not shrug it off like, okay, it's, it's all right, because we did that. I went through the riot in 65. I went through Martin Luther King's riot when we were in LA. I went through Rodney King in LA. And here we are again. So this momentum has to continue. And I believe that people have to stay focused. It doesn't mean you have to stir up and act like, oh, well, you don't have anything else to do. But the conversation has to continue. And something that I have always believed in. When I arise every morning, my responsibility is to be the best citizen that I can be. I speak kindly to my husband. I speak kindly to my neighbors. Each individual has to do that. We have to consider that we are in a world where everyone wants a piece of the pie. And we deserve that. We've worked hard for it. And we know as Black people, not only have we worked hard for it, but we are the reason it is what it is. Yes. Absolutely. Well, you know, Mary Ann, what message that is most important to you? Vote. There we go. There it is. But not just November. Vote in every local and state election. And if in your, wherever you live, if there is a sister or a brother that's running for office, give money to their campaign. One of the things that, that are candidates lack for is financial support and it takes money to run. And I know it's hard for us because, you know, we don't, we don't have, you know, assets and cash in the banks like, you know, other folks do. So it's hard. But if we all just, you know, gave a little and supported our brothers and sisters that are running for office and then go vote for them. The other thing is, you know, I, you know, I, I'm on, I serve on the board of an organization called the American Sustainable Business Council, which is based in DC. And it's a, it's a, it's a organization that advocates on behalf of sustainable businesses, but the work is policy work. So policy, things like, you know, it's, it's a, it, when the new deal happened and redlining was one of the outcomes of the new deal, which led to creating these marginalized neighborhoods where you, you redlined into poverty. That was a policy. The, what's happening with the police and throughout the country, the police departments, it's policy. We need policy for police reform. So I think as citizens and, you know, as good citizens, we need to stay educated about what is actually being talked about with amongst our legislators. And we should speak out. We should write letters to your congressman, ring the phone, send a text. They listen. If you, if we, the squeaky wheel gets the oil, you heard that. And it, and, and your contact with, with your people who are elected into office. Your voice is extremely powerful. I want to share that because the people don't know that because I do this work, I realize how powerful it is. You know, if you feel like you've, that you're particularly passionate about an issue, right in our bed, right in our bed, your paper loves our beds. Send it in. Send it in. And, and, and, and just don't, don't sit back. Okay. I'm sorry. Thank you. You know, we, we've got to close Queens. Oh, we have to do this again. We have to do it again. But in closing, I would like to not only thank you ladies, but I would like to spend, send a special message out to George Floyd's daughter because you know Father's Day is coming soon. So we want to let her know that we love her and she's going to be all right. And thank you. And Aloha and get your knee off our neck. See you soon. Aloha.