The power of love was strong on Saturday as a newlywed couple joined in on the Philadelphia protests to honour the late George Floyd.
Dr. Kerry-Anne and Michael Gordon, dressed in a wedding gown and tuxedo respectively, were greeted with a roar of applause as they joined hordes of peaceful protesters outside the city’s Logan Hotel, their wedding venue, ABC News reports.
The couple paused for an emotional set of wedding photos, snapped by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Tyger Williams, as the crowd parted to let them through.
The Gordons shared a kiss as everyone in the background cheered for them, then raised their fists in the air in solidarity against police brutality.
“It ended up being a very powerful moment,” Kerry-Anne, 35, told the publication. “Not only are we feeling the movement of people, but I’m meeting my husband, on our wedding day, as a strong Black man and a good representative of who we are as people, what our men are like, what our culture is like.”
“It was just a very, very empowering moment for us considering all of this happening at one moment in one time.”
Though the couple postponed their big wedding plans until 2021, they still wanted to marry on the original date, despite the ongoing protests.
For Michael, 42, the protests made their big day all the more memorable.
“We all see this injustice. We all want to see this needle shift away from the status quo,” he told ABC News. “That made this day more memorable in ways.”
“That’s what the entire event out there was about. Of course, there was police and National Guard, but it was a peaceful protest. Everyone was so nice,” he continued.
“That in itself showed what the movement can be and for us to be a part of that, it’s a positive thing.”
#BlackLivesMatter protests surged globally after the death of Floyd, who died in police custody after a white police officer knelt on his neck.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in cities across the world in solidarity against police brutality, many carrying signs reading “I can’t breathe,” the words Floyd was heard telling the office before he died.i cant
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