3/20 Coalition to Hold Community Vigil on 1-Year Anniversary of George Floyd’s Death

The 3/20 Coalition will host a community vigil on Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer.

The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Sidney Friedman Park on South Fraser Street and will include a healing drum circle, discussion, a silent march and a candlelight vigil. A memorial for Floyd and all Black lives lost will be created and community members are encouraged to bring candles, stuffed animals and artwork to contribute.

Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes after responding to a report that Floyd may have used a counterfeit bill. Chauvin was convicted in April of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

“Until all Black lives matter, we must press on,” a statement from the coalition said.

“One year after George Floyd was taken from his family and community, we pause to reflect on the past year, the movement for Black Lives, and where we collectively go from here.”

Floyd’s death, and his dying words of “I can’t breathe,” sparked protests nationwide, including in State College, where the movement shined a new light on the 3-20 Coalition’s advocacy and demands that began more than a year earlier with the fatal police shooting of Osaze Osagie.

A State College police officer who was serving a mental health warrant shot and killed Osagie on March 20, 2019, outside the 29-year-old’s Old Boalsburg Road apartment. He and two other officers on the scene were cleared of wrongdoing by District Attorney Bernie Cantorna, who concluded after a state police investigation that the officers were in a “life-or-death” situation when Osagie charged at them with a steak knife in a narrow basement hallway.

A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Osagie family in federal court alleges the officer who fired the shots, who has since left the department, was unfit for duty. The borough denies that.

The 3/20 Coalition and others have advocated for the firing and prosecution of the officers involved, as well as local police and mental health reforms.

State College has undertaken a series of reviews, equity measures and reforms, including funding a civilian response team of mental health and social workers and the pending formation of a police Community Oversight Board, which has spurred ongoing debate over what the scope of its authority will be.

“In State College, the quest for justice for Osaze Osagie continues,” the coalition’s statement said. “The 3-20 Coalition has continued to fight and while some signs of progress due to our advocacy have appeared over the past year, we are still far away from a truly representative Community Oversight Board, mental health reform and reallocation of police resources to critical social service needs in our communities.”