• The Fairfield County Chapter of Showing up for Social Justice will hold a rally Thursday, July 21 at noon on the Sherman Green in Fairfield, CT. Photo: Contributed / Contributed Photo / Fairfield Citizen
    The Fairfield County Chapter of Showing up for Social Justice will hold a rally Thursday, July 21 at noon on the Sherman Green in Fairfield, CT.
    The Fairfield County Chapter of Showing up for Social Justice will hold a rally Thursday, July 21 at noon on the Sherman Green in Fairfield, CT.
    Photo: Contributed / Contributed Photo
Photo: Contributed / Contributed Photo
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The Fairfield County Chapter of Showing up for Social Justice will hold a rally Thursday, July 21 at noon on the Sherman Green in Fairfield, CT.
The Fairfield County Chapter of Showing up for Social Justice will hold a rally Thursday, July 21 at noon on the Sherman Green in Fairfield, CT.
Photo: Contributed / Contributed Photo

FAIRFIELD — Just around the corner from the Fairfield Police Department a planned rally for social justice is expected to bring a crowd Thursday.

The Fairfield County chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice, a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people to advocate for racial justice, will hold a demonstration at noon, Thursday, July 21 on Sherman Green in Fairfield to call for an immediate end to police violence against Black people across America.

The Fairfield Citizen will have reporters on scene that you can follow via Twitter who will be live tweeting and live streaming via Periscope. You can following Genevieve Reilly and Laura Weiss. You can also come back to this page for posts updating the events on the green.

“We’re calling for the transformation of policing in our society to refocus its purpose and implementation so that Black people are no longer being tortured, brutalized and murdered by police,” said Michael Merli, 30, founder of SURJ Fairfield County in a statement released by the group.

The local group is calling on elected officials throughout Fairfield County and beyond to commit to clear, concrete steps to reduce the further potential of state violence against Black people so that it can no longer be an agent of anti-Black oppression.

More Information

About Showing Up for Racial Justice

MISSION

SURJ is a national network of groups and individuals organizing White people for racial justice. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ moves White people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability. We work to connect people across the country while supporting and collaborating with local and national racial justice organizing efforts. SURJ provides a space to build relationships, skills and political analysis to act for change.

VISION

We envision a society where we struggle together with love, for justice, human dignity and a sustainable world.

— Editor’s note: This information came from Showing Up for Racial Justice’s website which can be found here.

“We are taking action in solidarity with Movement for Black Lives organizers,” said Maureen Leahy, 40, a member of SURJ and the Unitarian Universalist. “They are occupying, demonstrating, marching and chanting for a new future in which our Black neighbors can be free from state-sanctioned violence and oppression, free to be themselves, and to enjoy the same access to justice, dignity and respect that White people have. We echo their call for #FreedomNow”.

SURJ National is planning a number of demonstrations and public actions to support Movement for Black Lives organizers throughout the day and evening of July 21.