BabyNames.com alters homepage to honor black Americans killed by police, fellow citizens
Emmett Till. Walter Scott. Freddie Carlos Gray Jr.
George Floyd. Breonna Taylor.
Antwon Rose II.
The website BabyNames.com bucked its normal homepage on Tuesday, replacing trending and popular baby names with 107 names of black men and women who have been killed by police or, in some instances, fellow Americans:
Trayvon Martin. Ahmaud Arbery.
“Each one of these names was somebody’s baby,” the text above the names reads.
Below the list, it continues: “BabyNames.com stands in solidarity with the black community.”
Say their names. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/hyEj58lueT
— BabyNames.com (@babynamesdotcom) June 6, 2020
The website initially posted the graphic to its Twitter account on Saturday and added names that were brought to their attention by users, including Kionte Spencer, killed by Roanoke County Police in 2016.
Website founder Jennifer Moss told Fox35 in Orlando that she and her family were devastated when they saw a list of black people killed by police.
“Our statement is that these are not just names on a page, but loved ones,” she told the TV station, noting that her website is family-owned. “We are humbled and grateful for the public response and hope it helps in the conversation.”
The statement is among many put out by corporations in the two weeks since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, including Nike, Spotify and Netflix.
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