Palm Beach County community leaders reflect on murder of George Floyd
One year ago, George Floyd was murdered by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. His death catapulted the nation into conversations on social and racial injustice.
and last updated 2021-05-25 23:30:49-04
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. â One year ago, George Floyd was murdered by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. His death catapulted the nation into conversations on social and racial injustice.
Protests, chants, and police sirens became recurring sounds during the summer of 2020.
âA year ago, things were tough,â Ricky Aiken said.
Aiken is the founder of Inner-City Innovators, a program started in the north end of West Palm Beach that is now expanding throughout Palm Beach County.
Second Chance Pays Off in Palm Beach The following article was originally published by In-plant Impressions. To read more of their content, subscribe to their newsletter, IPI E-News.
Driving Miss Daisy was in the theaters, the Berlin Wall was coming down, and phones still had cords when Talmedge Hayes disappeared from the world.
Just a teenager in the late ’80s, the fatherless youth had fallen in with criminals in his Tampa, Fla., housing project and was arrested for armed robbery. The sentence was severe: life without parole.
Hayes was one of many black teens discarded by the system, abandoned forever to prison, for a crime that might have gotten a white defendant a more lenient sentence. He could have let incarceration consume him and become just another bitter, violent inmate, racked with despair. Instead he chose a different path, one of self improvement and hope. He decided to learn a trade.