June 16, 2020AM
One of our children decided to speak truth to power and it cost her life to be taken away from us.
Oluwatoyin Salau was a 19 year old activist under the Black Lives Matter. On Monday morning, Tallahassee, Florida, police confirmed the death of 19-year-old recent high school graduate Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau, setting off an avalanche of calls for justice for black women across social media. Salau, who had been active in Black Lives Matter protests, went missing on June 6, after she tweeted about being sexually assaulted.
BLM ACTIVIST
Oluwatoyin Salau
“Heart-wrenching. Oluwatoyin Salau used her voice to fight for the Black community and speak out against injustice. She was only 19 and had her whole life ahead of her,” Harris wrote on Twitter on Monday. “We must do better to protect Black women and value their lives. #JusticeForToyin.”
Ultimately, the outcry underscores how black women are fighting multiple debilitating battles at the same time — from white supremacy and the patriarchy to police brutality and sexual violence. There are also the issues of colorism (discrimination based on skin tone) and texturism (discrimination based on hair texture) that dark-skinned, kinkier-haired black women like Salau face in the community. Such pressure has created a small, steady movement of black women encouraging other black women to rethink fighting on the front lines of a movement that prioritizes the lives of black men.
