Letter: Why rally for Black Lives Matter 1,000 days later? Because inequality remains

The folks who stand in market square every day since the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 recently celebrated their 1,000th consecutive day ("Black Lives Matter marks milestone, targets Orrville police reform" — Feb. 27).

I have to think a lot of people wonder why this is still going on. What is the point? Quite simply, the problem of racial injustice is still huge.

In those 1,000 days, 618 Black folks have been shot and killed by police, according to the Washington Post. Yes, 1,143 white folks were shot and killed in that same period, but since white people make up 75.8% of the U.S. population and Black people make up 13.6%, according to the U.S. Census, that means Black folk are three times more likely to be shot and killed by police. This is not to say that all who work in law enforcement are racist, but it suggests there is a deadly racial problem.

This issue goes beyond policing. In health care, Black patients are assumed to have higher pain tolerance causing them to receive substandard care. Black Americans have a lower life expectancy, higher blood pressure and more instances of mental health strain such as anxiety, depression and stress due to living in a society that sees them as less than.

As someone who can be found occasionally on the corner of Market and Liberty from noon to 1 p.m. holding a Black Lives Matter sign and waving at passersby, the reason we are still there is because we see a lot of inequality in the world.

While holding a sign doesn’t immediately fix the problem, that, along with working with organizations like the NAACP and getting involved in local government, helps to bring about a better, more equitable world for all who live in it.

Rev. Walter Clark, WoosterMinister, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Wayne County

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Racial injustice still a huge problem in the US; that's why we rally