A black screen with meaning. Images like these flood social media feeds for blackout Tuesday. The online movement is raising awareness for Black Lives Matter following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.
Worcester Wares owner Jessica Walsh says, "It's been kind of a big kick for everybody, even people who may have been quiet before and in the privacy of their own homes believed in things now just want to be out there and saying things."
Local businesses like Worcester Wares are participating. They are not thinking about sales, instead taking time to research how they can be better allies to the black community.
"No matter how much you think you're a great person, and you probably are and have a great heart, every body needs to make changes and this was a good way to bring awareness to that."
The blackout is the latest in the movement of protest against racial injustice and police brutality on people of color. Hundreds March through Worcester Monday night.
Worcester Councilor-At-Large Khrystian King says, "We think about the realities and the trauma and our experiences with law enforcement daily. And regardless of what it is, we're now seeing it replicated visually."
Assumption College Associate Professor of Sociology Steven Farough says the scale of this movement has to do with the rise of Black Lives Matter and the rise of social media.
Farough says, "There's the ability to share information more and there is more organization and I think there is more critiques of the criminal justice system than there were in the early 2000s."
He says it’s amplified compared to others we’ve seen and Floyd’s death is only the tip of the iceberg.
"We can continue to go back a good decade now and continue to see these horrific acts."