If you're like a lot of people, you're probably feeling a combination of rage and anxiety in the wake of 10 days' worth of really, really bad news.
It's the weekend, though, so maybe you should diffuse some of that negative energy. You could accomplish this by yelling at the TV (or the Internet), or you could join dozens of people who are equally as mad in Tampa for an hour or so later tonight.
At 6 p.m., activists from across the Tampa Bay area will take to Lykes Gaslight Park in Downtown Tampa to demand justice for Michael Brown and Eric Garner, two unarmed African-American men who died in two separate, unrelated incidents of police violence, as well as for a boy who was shot and killed for holding a toy gun.
Last week a grand jury declined to indict Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who shot Brown, which sparked outrage from advocates for equality, social justice and basic decency. When the same thing happened in Garner's case (the weapon of choice being a chokehold instead of a gun), it fueled the fire.
"The demand will be to have Darren Wilson indicted for his murder of an unarmed black teen," a press release sent out by the group Raices en Tampa reads. "We stand in solidarity with the protesters in Ferguson and around the country who demand 'Shut it down!' until justice has been served. In addition, we will be uniting with those calling for justice in the similar case of Eric Garner and 12-year-old Tamir Rice.
Lykes-Gaslight Park is at 410 N. Franklin in downtown Tampa.
