6月3日, 2020, 乔治·弗洛伊德六岁的女儿, Gianna, 她举起双臂宣布, “爸爸改变了世界.“黑人的命也是命”运动, sparked by the untimely death witnessed around the world of this innocent man, 才刚刚开始. 从那时起, we’ve seen at least a dozen other countries and every American state participate in this long-overdue movement. What better place to shed some light on the situation than in 孟菲斯, Tennessee?

二战后, African American soldiers that had risked their lives fighting for freedom and against fascism came home to face the harsh reality that they were not fully free. The climate in 孟菲斯, and many other places, at the time, was one of fierce and unrelenting racism. Across the country, racism was thriving, peaceful protesters were teargassed, and chaos reigned. 有些事情必须改变.

The unrest that had been building for so long finally led to the Civil Rights Movement. Making monumental changes one baby step at a time, Tennessee was truly at the forefront of it all. The first public school integrated in the South was located right in Clinton. There were lengthy legal battles, protests, marches, sit-ins, and boycotts. 选民登记运动由此诞生.

Each event, each day, and each moment drove us all closer to justice. 事情发生得并不快, and there were plenty of setbacks along the way, 但是在1945年到1975年之间, the Civil Rights Movement changed the world as we knew it then. 有一天,, we’ll look back on the Black Lives Matter Movement of 2020 and recognize many of the same characteristics of this movement: an unwavering dedication to justice, 为我们的信仰而战, and the ability to change even the most stubborn places.

When you walk through 孟菲斯 today, you can see the spot where Martin Luther King Jr. s太d and fought for economic justice in 1968. 就在不远的地方, 你可以参观克林顿高中, where Bobby Cain became the first African-American student to graduate from an integrated public high school in the South. If history has taught us anything, it’s that change may happen slowly, but change always comes. If we push and we fight and we act braver than we feel and we band together and we demand what’s right – change is inevitable.

Luckily, this time around, our movement has reached millions, and it’s reached them quickly. With phone calls, videos, and social media, it’s harder to hide from the truth. Since the Black Lives Matter movement started earlier this year, 法律已经更新, police reform has begun in many places, and confederate and slavery-linked statues can be seen crumbling to the ground across the country, 在很多其他地方, 太.

In the few short months since George Floyd’s death, Minneapolis lawmakers vowed to disband their city’s police department; New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, pledged to reallocate police funds to youth and social services instead; chokeholds have been banned in over a dozen states; shows perpetuating racism and violence have been taken off the air; corporations, 首席执行官们, and other leaders have been forced to reevaluate their choices and policies. You can read more about the changes sparked by BLM here. These changes have been a long time coming. 而这仅仅是个开始.

When Gianna Floyd announced that her dad changed the world, she didn’t know just how right she was. 总有一天，她会的. 有一天,, we’ll read about her dad in our history books. We’ll remember the year that everything began to change. The year that we fought decades of racial injustice and a deadly pandemic all at once, and we won.

在里夫斯律师事务所, we’ve been fighting for the rights of 孟菲斯 residents since we launched in 2011. We were founded under the guiding principles that we want to be loved by our clients, 受到同行的尊敬, 被我们的反对势力所畏惧. We’ve been a voice for the voiceless and built a dedicated and diverse team of personal injury lawyers and staff that stand up for what’s right and protect the innocent.

We fight for those who have felt physically, 在情感上, or financially devastated and will continue to do so for as long as our doors remain open. 在短短的9年里, we’ve recovered millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements on behalf of those injured due to another’s negligence in 孟菲斯. With in-depth knowledge of complex personal injury laws and unique insight into insurance company strategies, we’re prepared to offer you only the best representation. We are proud to serve our communities, 看看孟菲斯到底走了多远, 并成为它光明的一部分, 光辉的未来.