Black Lives Matter: A Conversation with Jalesa Tucker

2 min readJun 24, 2020

After the murder of George Floyd sparked protests in Minneapolis, here in New York, across the country, and around the world, I wanted to have a conversation on Talking Taiwan about what precipitated all of this social unrest, the Black Lives Matter movement and what we, especially non-Black people can do at this time.

This led me to invite Jalesa Tucker to be a guest on Talking Taiwan. I met Jalesa when I did some work for a nonprofit that educates young people about healthy relationships.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Who was George Floyd and why his death has led to massive protests across the U.S. and globally
Recent incidents in the U.S. that led up to the protests over the murder of George Floyd (May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota): the killing of Ahmaud Arbery (February 23 in Brunswick, Georgia), Breonna Taylor (March 13 in Louisville, Kentucky), a dispute between Chris Cooper and Amy Cooper in New York City’s Central Park (May 25)
The death of Trayvon Martin (February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida) that led to the Black Lives Matter movement
The start of the hashtag Black Lives Matter
What is taught about Black history or the lack thereof in U.S. high schools
The Black Lives Matter movement’s call to defund the police and what that means
Resources to learn more about racial inequality in the U.S.
Why Black Lives Matter is about humanity and how we treat each other

Related and Recommended Links:

Netflix documentary film, directed by Ava DuVernay 13th: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8&t=210s

Malcom X: https://www.malcolmx.com/biography/

James Baldwin: https://www.biography.com/writer/james-baldwin

My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem: https://www.resmaa.com/books

Emmanuel Acho’s YouTube channel video series, Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man: https://www.youtube.com/user/Eacho18/videos