CSUN students and staff hold virtual events to reflect on killing of George Floyd

Samantha Bravo, Assistant Campus Editor

Members of the CSUN community are taking to the internet to reflect the recent killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. 

The University Student Union and University Counseling Services are hosting a virtual program Friday afternoon for students to process Floyd’s death and the impact of police brutality on the Black community. The leaders of two Black student groups at CSUN and Cal State LA are also hosting an Instagram Live conversation on Friday about this week’s events. 

A video showing Floyd being pressed on the ground with a police officer’s knee on his neck for several minutes surfaced on the internet on Monday. In the Facebook Live video, Floyd can be heard pleading with Officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd’s neck. 

“Please, I can’t breathe,” Floyd can be heard saying to the officer. 

The four officers involved in the arrest were fired on May 27, according to The New York Times.

The killing triggered protests in Minneapolis, Los Angeles and other metropolitan cities, calling for the arrest of the officers involved in Floyd’s killing. 

Hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters halted traffic on the U.S. Route 101 in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday. Protests continued in downtown L.A. on Thursday. 

Dr. Abram Milton and Dr. Paulette Theresa-Schechtel, two psychologists from university counseling services, will lead the USU’s event. 

Milton’s focus as a university counselor includes working with men of color. Theresa-Schechtel specializes in multicultural psychology and social justice. She also founded a support group called Sistahood for Black and African American female students on campus, according to CSUN’s website. 

Dr. Freddie Sanchez, associate director of Marketing and Programs at the USU said the discussion will be an opportunity for students to find comfort and grieve. 

“As we think about how we will continue to inspire and impact change, we need to come together as a community, not only to grieve, because that’s one of the portions of what we will be doing tomorrow,” Sanchez said. “But also being able to come together as a community to find comfort in each other and talk about what are some things that we can do as an institution to support our black males on this campus.”

CSUN student Kaila Moore-Jones, vice president of CSUN’s Black Girl Magic, a Black female student group on campus, will discuss this week’s events on Instagram Live with Kalani Robinson, the Black Community Program Director of Cal State LA’s Black Student Union.

“The purpose of our Instagram Live meeting is to discuss our most recent example of modern day lynching in America,” Moore-Jones said.  “George Floyd is not the first and unfortunately will not be the last to die at the hands of police.” 

“We want to offer a safe space to speak out on how we are feeling, especially in these days of quarantine where human interaction is limited,” Moore-Jones said.  “It is important to have that outlet, we felt.” 

 

Editor’s Note May 29, 11:00 a.m. : Previous version of story did not have the most up to date information.