Activist Tamika Mallory on how to move forward after protests subside

There comes a time when it's OK for protesters to go home, says activist Tamika Mallory. "We should be able to sit back and say, we've got a small victory here and now I need to protect myself from COVID-19," Mallory told Yahoo News. But Mallory says that when the court trials of the accused officers begin, so does a new stage of the movement. "The police will be showing up," she said. "We have to be there as well."

Video transcript

TAMIKA MALLORY: We are in a state of emergency. Black people are dying. We cannot look at this as an isolated incident.

MARQUISE FRANCIS: Well, thank you, Tamika Mallory, for joining me, the cochair for 2017's Women's March and the cofounder of Until Freedom. Just to start out, I want to know where your head is and where your focus is. We know that the killers of George Floyd, the cops involved in that case, have been arrested. Also, the killers in Ahmaud Arbery case are on trial right now. But we also know that the killers of Breonna Taylor have not been arrested yet. So where's your focus in all of this?

TAMIKA MALLORY: Not that it is any less for all of the victims, but for Breonna Taylor, there is a particular part of me that is really charged up to fight for her-- one, because she's a woman and we don't receive the same support in these movements as our brothers. You know, part of the problem is women are often ignored and sidelined in conversations about state-sanctioned violence and a number of other issues.

So it's not unusual. Even the ways in which the media covers police violence, it often is a hyper focus on black men. We also as black women are protectors of our men. We often put ourselves on the back burner, and therefore there is an energy around black men, and there should be. We should absolutely be fighting for the Trayvon Martins and the George Floyds and the Ahmaud Arberys of every single time.

So any time something happens to our brothers, there needs to be a movement that is strong and powerful. However, we need to keep that same energy when it comes to our women.

The reason why buildings are burning are not just for our brother, George Floyd. They're burning down because people here in Minnesota are saying to people in New York, to people in California, to people in Memphis, to people all across this nation, enough is enough.

I don't give a damn if they burn down Target because Target should be on the streets with us calling for the justice that our people deserve.

MARQUISE FRANCIS: I believe it was last Friday when you gave an impassioned speech where you said basically you could care less about what happens to businesses because bodies mean more than possessions. And there was a lot of critics on social media who were saying, you know, these businesses are all they've worked for. So how do you reason with these two ideas of people saying this is my business, but you're saying, you know, black bodies mean way more?

TAMIKA MALLORY: Well, I think that the issue for me-- and in that moment, I'm speaking specifically to the media because this idea of trying to shift the narrative away to the looters and vandalism away from the original sin, the original violence that took place that put us in a situation-- and remember, at the moment that I'm speaking on Friday, no one has been arrested. In fact, Chauvin, the first officer, was arrested during the press conference. So we arrived there enraged.

I don't want to hear about Target and Autozone and whether or not their buildings have been damaged or property has been stolen while a man's life has been taken and no one is being held accountable for it. America is very hypocritical. And I watched David [INAUDIBLE] say the other day everything that America has ever done, the foundation of this country was built on looting, stealing from other individuals in order to make your own.

My main point is if you want to stop looting, vandalism, violence, riots, whatever you want to call it, arrest the cops. Charge them, and then convict them so that this way you have a way-- you have a moral standing to come to us with.

MARQUISE FRANCIS: Do you feel like this is an actual moment we're having, or do you feel like this is kind of just another kind of check on the list?

TAMIKA MALLORY: I think every single time that people have mobilized in this country, it has been a part of a movement, a movement strategy. They all play a role as we walk towards this idea of what freedom looks like for black people in America.

In this particular moment, what I believe is that protesters should go home, right? Like, they don't have to-- they don't have to, of course. I'm out there. Like, we're protesting tomorrow. So if it's lit, I'm with it, you know what I'm saying?

But if they need to go home at this point, they should. We should be able to sit back and say, OK, we've got a small victory here, and now I need to protect myself from COVID-19. I need to go find a job. I need to go back to my home and make sure that my family is secure.

But then when it's time for the court cases and those officers are going to court, the police will be showing up. We have to be there as well. We need to be outside those courts. We need to make sure bus loads, car loads, train loads are showing up. So the movement begins again.