In honour, in support, in understanding of our black community

At Rhys Kelly, “we understand that we will never understand” however, we stand together in supporting the black community in the fight for equal rights.

In efforts to show our support, we have designed a “Big Eye Tee” honoring the Black Lives Matter movement, where we will be donating 50% of all proceeds to blacklivesmatter.com

Growing up caucasian, we will personally never know the extent of fear in being targeted because of our skin colour. Although we may not fully understand the fear and unfair treatment that has been instilled on innocent black lives, we want to use our privilege and voice to not only help support this cause, but spread awareness and honour all of the black lives that were lost due to unjust racial profiling and police brutality.

To honour the many black lives that have been taken far too soon from us, here are a few truly heartbreaking stories that occured due to unequal treatment by police officers who abused their power:

George Flyod: slowly suffocated to death in the hands of a police officer while three other police officers stood there and watched as he cried out “I can’t breathe.”

He was accused of forgery, as he allegedly used a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill, which then police came to arrest him.

Sandra Bland: found dead, hanging in her jail cell three days after being arrested during a routine traffic stop. Her death was ruled as suicide, then footage at the time of the arrest surfaced publicy. The 39 second cell phone recording clearly shows the officer mistreating this woman and becoming aggressive over a minor traffic violation: failure to signal, where she was then arrested for defending herself.

DJ Henry: shot and killed by police officer Aaron Hess in New York while unarmed in his car. He was first asked to move his vehicle by the officer as he was parked in a fire lane, Henry allegedly sped towards him which forced the officer to shoot him according to the officer. Henry’s friends who were in the car claimed he was not speeding towards him, but in fact moving his car like the officer had told him. Video footage later resurfaced from that tragic evening and police admitted to lying about the Henry shooting.

Breonna Taylor: fatally shot eight times and killed by police officers in her home. Officers had entered the home back on March 13, wearing plain clothes while serving a “no-knock warrant” and gunshots were exchanged between the officers and her boyfriend. All of this took place without knocking or regard for the value of human life and who was in the home while gunshots were being fired.

These are just a few of the many black victims that unlawfully lost their lives due to the unfair treatment of police brutality. 

We MUST put an end to racism, oppression and injustice. What happens to one of us, happens to all of us. When one person suffers due to unfair treatment, it should affect all of us in some form or another. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg for justice in the black community as we unite and come together as one.

Protesting continues to rise throughout the globe against systemic racism, as it should. Justice must be served, we need to continue to shine light on the harsh realities of racism and racial profiling and show our support during these trying times.

So how can you help support this movement?

Be the change you want to see, have a voice, educate yourself and others, donate to Black Lives Matter and similar organizations, support black owned businesses.