Ways You Can Support Daunte Wright’s Family and Community
20-year-old Daunte Wright was shot and killed by a police officer
Another family is left to mourn the death of a beloved. A Black man dead at the fault of a White police officer. On Sunday, 20-year-old Daunte Wright was killed in Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis. He was a father, a brother, a son, and a friend to many.
While the reasons for the police pulling him over are in dispute, the unnecessary use of a lethal weapon are not. Body camera footage showed police officer Kim Potter drawing her gun as she shouted “Taser” and firing a lethal bullet at Wright.
On Tuesday, Potter resigned as a Brooklyn Center police officer, as did Tim Gannon, the city’s chief of police. A day later, former officer, Potter, was arrested and charged in the death of Wright, and will make her first court appearance today.
In a city already rife with tension and grief—as the trial of Derek Chauvin, the officer accused of killing George Floyd, is now in its third week—too many are forced to grapple with loss, and face law enforcement that continues in its failure to value the lives of an entire community.
Daunte Wright should still be alive today. pic.twitter.com/rhhkjFelYy
— ACLU (@ACLU) April 12, 2021
Hundreds have gathered in protest of the young man’s death, for four consecutive nights, and will most likely for a fifth. While the gatherings started off peacefully, as night fell, officers used pepper spray and fired flash bombs at protestors. Water bottles and other objects were thrown at officers in riot gear. According to CBS News, 40 arrests were made Monday night and 79 on Tuesday night.
See below, for ways you can support Daunte Wright’s family and community in Brooklyn Center.
- Donate to The Daunte Wright Sr. Memorial Fund, Wright’s Aunt Kelly Bryant set a GoFundMe to cover funeral costs and help Wright’s son and his son’s mother
- Minneapolis-based business Holistic Heaux has been coordinating donations for the mother of Daunte’s son
- If you’d like to participate in a protest or vigil, local organizing groups have already planned some in New York City, keep an eye out on Instagram.
- Get your local officials to take action against police violence in your own neighborhood.
- Donate to the Minnesota Freedom Fund and the Bail Project to support those needing bail.
This will be updated.