Right now countless artists are using their talent to express their frustrations about the world's injustice. DJ Olivia Dope reimagined Janet's iconic dance video for Pleasure Principle to become a protest against police violence in the United States.
"I just want to be another bright light for a dim period to be Black in America," Dope told For Harriet. "I want to celebrate how great we are day in and day out regardless of the devastating pains we endure throughout our lives."
Almost 30 years after the original video's initial release, Dope's intensity is palpable.
"I hope everyone enjoys this project as much as I loved creating it," she said.
We must not neglect the impact that ongoing injustice has on our youngest minds. 10-year-old Zianna Oliphant spoke at a citizen's forum held by the Charlotte City Council on Monday to express her sadness about police brutality.
"I come here today to talk about how I feel, and I feel like we are treated differently than other people," she explained.
Zianna broke down in tears during her remarks. With some encouragement from the crowd she continued.
"I don't like how we're treated... I believe that we are Black people and we shouldn't have to feel like this. We shouldn't have to protest because y'all are treating us wrong. We do this because we need to and have rights."
NBC News caught up with her and she got even more specific about her grievance.
"What the police are doing to us just because of our skin is not right," she said.
Diamond Reynolds livestreamed a deadly police stop on Wednesday night. Reynolds and her boyfriend, Philando Castile, were stopped in Falcon Heights, Maryland.
A police officer who has yet to be identified struck and killed Castile in front of Reynolds and her four-year-old daughter.
Today Reynolds appeared in front of the Minnesota Governor's Mansion to speak for the first time publicly about the incident.
The video begins with Reynolds yelling "I want justice" through tears.
Here is a transcript of her remarks.
"The police killed him in front of my daughter. The police did this to us. They asked him to show his identification. He was licensed to carry, and as he was reaching in his back pocket, the police bared arms.
I'm the woman who recorded the video. My daughter is the one that was there.
The police officer stopped us for a busted tail light that was not busted. They pulled us over on the side of the road and asked for license and registration. As he was reaching for his license and registration, he told the officer that he was licensed to carry. As he got back comfortable, the police took four or five shots at him for no reason. They took his life for no reason. They did this to my daughter and they did it to me, and I want justice.
The police did this to me. They took an innocent man away from us. He didn’t do anything. He did exactly what the police asked.
I want justice. It’s not right. It’s not right. These police should not be able to just bare arms on innocent people in front of kids. My daughter will be forever scarred by what the police of Falcon Heights did to us for no apparent reason. They asked him for identification and before he had a chance to get it, they bared arms on him. He took his last breath in front of us where he died on the scene.
It’s not fair. They’re giving all these people, these authorities the right to kill us. It could’ve been you. It could’ve been you. It could’ve been you or you or you. It could’ve been any of us. I want justice.
He should not be home with his family. He should be somewhere in jail handcuffed. They took me to jail. They didn’t feed us. They didn’t give us water. They took everything from me. They put me in a room and separated me from my child. They treated me like a prisoner. They treated me like I did this to me, and I didn’t. They did this to us. They took a black man away. He worked for St. Paul Public Schools. He never had a criminal record. He never did anything. No gang affiliated nothing. He was a hard-working man. His birthday was in nine days. They took him nine days before his 35th birthday. i
It's not fair and it’s not right. I appreciate everybody for being here. I thank the world for supporting me. I thank everybody for sharing that video. I just ask that we get justice. If nobody has ever came together for anything in this world, put your differences aside. Put them in your back pocket. Let’s stand together. We didn’t do this to our community. The police did this to our community. But the police, the people that’s supposed to serve and protect us are not serving us and they’re not protecting us. They’re taking innocent people away from their families. They’re taking innocent people off the streets. And it’s not ok. It’s not ok. They tamper with evidence. They took me off the scene. I was not allowed to talk to anybody up until 5 o’clock this morning when they dropped me off on my door step. I was not released. I was not released. My name is Diamond Reynolds, and I have not been released. I was not released until 5 o’clock this morning when they dropped me off at my house with two squad cars.
They had us in Roseville, at the precinct in Roseville. They separated my daughter from me. They didn’t feed us, and they tried to place the blame like it was something we did. We didn’t do anything. We put our hands in the air. We knew our rights and we followed procedure. As following procedure he bared arms, not one shot, not two shots, not three shots or four shots but five shots. They took my phone and threw it. After they had machine guns pointed at my back as it was still recording.
They took my lifeline. That was my best friend. I don’t have any family in Minnesota. I don’t have nobody. Please pray for my daughter. Pray for me. It’s not fair. He killed him in front of us for no reason.
It’s hard to be strong you guys. It’s my first time crying since all of this happened. I’ve been trying to be so strong for my daughter and my daughter’s being stronger than me. That little girl, she is the warrior behind this. Without this little angel on my side, I would never have been able to make it through this. She prayed for me. She told me she would never leave my side. She helped me make it through all of this. She’s the one who needs the prayer you guys because I will be ok. But I don't know if I can say the same for my four year old daughter. I don’t know if I can say the same for her. "
Reynolds was then asked questions about the incident. When asked to describe Philando she said, "He was a very sweet man, very loving... He took care of my daughter. I worked two jobs. He worked one job, and we took care of her. My daughter is not his child but he raised her and took care of her as if she was his."
When asked about what she wants, she answered plain. "I want justice. I want peace."
She went on to discuss the ways that police have already try to take over the investigation. "They took my phone. They took over my Facebook. They don’t want us to support each other. They’re going to tamper with evidence. They’re gong to tamper with witnesses. They’re going to do whatever they had to do to cover their butts."
After yesterday's announcement that the officers responsible for 12-year-old Tamir Rice's death last November would not be indicted for his murder, many of us took to social media to express our heartbreak, outrage, and confusion.
Niya Kenny, 18, was arrested in a classroom at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina for speaking out when she saw her classmate being mistreated by school resource officer, Ben Fields.
A video released Monday shows a school resource officer at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina dragging a seated student from her desk as a teacher and her classmates looked on. The student did not appear to be combative as the officer placed her in a chokehold, flipped her to the ground and violently arrested her.
