Gov. Murphy attends Justice for George Floyd protest organized by Westfield students

Gov. Phil Murphy attended a justice for George Floyd protest organized by Westfield High School students Sunday.

News 12 Staff

Jun 7, 2020, 9:10 PM

Updated 1,425 days ago

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Gov. Phil Murphy attended a justice for George Floyd protest organized by Westfield High School students Sunday.
Over 1,000 protestors packed into a field near Westfield Police Department. They observed eight minutes and 46 seconds of silence, which is the amount of time the Minneapolis officer had his knee pressed down on Floyd’s neck.
Protest organizer Nala Scott, 16, used social media to spread the word. She says she has struggled to grow up in the area due to her race.
"It's just years of being antagonized and picked on for something that is my race," says Scott.
According to census data, only 3% of Westfield residents are black or African American.
Scott wrote a letter to Murphy, stating that his attendance to her protest, "would help the people of Westfield feel that their message is heard and the treatment of black people is no longer tolerated."
Murphy spoke at the rally, expressing that, "People ask me why I am here and I tell them literally Nala Scott invited me.”
He added, “We can never forget their names and their ages and we must never forget Black Lives Matter.”
Scott says, for the first time in her life, “I felt heard, I felt understood and supported all at once.”
The governor also attended a Black Lives Matter protest in Hillsdale Sunday.
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