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Don't work out when it kills black people
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Don't work out when it kills black people. We have nothing to lose without change
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We have nothing to lose without change. Work out somewhere else. We begin with breaking news in the heart of Hollywood
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An officer involved shooting on Sunset Boulevard. This entire situation unfolded inside the gym with officers actually opening fire on this man in the locker room
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He was a black man, about 240 pounds. On October 29, 2018, Albert Ramon Dorsey was shot and killed by LAPD inside 24 Hour Fitness in Hollywood, California
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According to the police, Dorsey was involved in two incidents at that specific gym in previous days and had trespassed on the day of the shooting
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Employees of 24 Fitness called the police in an effort to have him removed
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What resulted was the death of Mr. Dorsey. Albert Ramon, as we call him, was a gentle giant
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Let me say that. He was big in size, but his heart was huge as well
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He was a kind person. Ramon used to be the one that would go through the neighborhood and cut elders grass, wash cars
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Those things that he'd done, he picked up as a career. So he started, he opened up and started his own business, which was car detailing and landscaping
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and he was excellent at what he did. On March 8, 2017, Dennis Todd Rogers was shot and killed by L.A. County Sheriff's deputies
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outside of 24-Hour Fitness. Rogers had signed up for gym membership five days earlier
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and according to 24-Hour Fitness Management, was spending up to 12 hours at the gym
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They claimed he was harassing other members and management asked him to leave the building Rogers left the building but 24 management still thought he was a threat to them while standing around in the parking lot
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The police were called, resulting in the death of Rogers. The official report is that Rogers was swinging hair clippers and threatening to hit the police
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In America, we are criminalized first. And because we are criminals, we get treated that way
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Not as customers, not as citizens, but we are criminals first. So when the police show up, their first response to us is like we are criminals
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That's why we want them not to call the police. That's why we have those demands
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And they're very simple. I mean, it ain't like we asking them to close down for the next month
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which is what they should do. After these two incidents, Black Lives Matter LA issued a letter to 24-Hour Fitness with demands to address the issues
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But the response from 24-Hour Fitness was one of dismissal and denial according to Black Lives Matter
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The organization then called for a boycott of 24-Hour Fitness until they agreed to address the issues they believe are leading employees to call the police on black members
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Because, in their views, getting the police involved is endangering black lives
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somebody else over here who said when we were bringing it up, he was like, oh, I feel for him
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But it's a tough call. It's not a tough call. Just cancel your membership
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We live in L.A. It's not even like it's hard. There's hella gyms here. So work out somewhere else is easy
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But I think that what we have to hold on to is that at least 15 people cancel their membership. Hey
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My name is Malina Abdullah. I'm an organizer with Black Lives Matter and one of the original members of BLM
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Two black men killed as a result of 24 Hour Fitness calling the police on them in less
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than two years. And so we've asked 24 Hour Fitness for several things
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To issue a public statement about the value of black life to engage in cultural competency training for all their employees and franchisees and to establish protocols other than calling the police So if we think about what happened with Albert Ramon Dorsey
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he was naked and exiting the shower. He had finished his workout, he's clearly leaving
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They didn't really need to do anything. They could have just let him leave, but instead they called LAPD
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LAPD then comes in and murders him in cold blood, claiming that the reason it's not on video is because both of the officers' body cams fell off before they killed him
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What do you say to people who believe they're responsible and believe it should lie on the police and not 24-hour fitness
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So we're absolutely in line with that, that police are responsible. However, there is corporate complicity in this, right
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So 24-hour fitness is complicit. 24-hour fitness is the one are the ones that called the police into a situation that police
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didn't need to be called into. And so, you know, we've asked them to change their patterns of
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behavior and they refused. We went inside 24-hour fitness to speak with a representative
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but our interview request was declined. Also think about what happened in Philadelphia with
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Starbucks, right? When a Starbucks manager called the police on black men who were sitting at a
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table, right? We're not saying Starbucks did everything great, but the black men who had the
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police called on them, right? The police bear some responsibility in arresting those black men
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but Starbucks also took some responsibility and said, we shouldn't have called the police in the
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first place. And so that's what we're asking 24-Hour Fitness to do
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I miss my brother. He didn't even get to have kids
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I'm so old. But he treated my girls like they was his
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I got three daughters. I just want to see those police held accountable for what they done
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for the at least for the one time they need to hold those police accountable for what they're doing
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because they are taking people lives people loved ones lives Like don they know that people hurt behind that
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People care, people... We made our point here today
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This has been great. That's right. And if nothing else, they will say
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I went to 24 Hour Fitness and them people was all over me. 1.524
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The Boycott 24! Cancel your membership! Now Ramon Dorsey learn here! Cancel your membership
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Boycott 24! Boycott 24! Boycott 24! Boycott 24! We're giving a lot of energy today to uplift
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Albert Ramon Dorsey and to uplift Dennis Todd Rogers. You're giving a lot of energy today to this movement
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to boycott 24 Hour Fitness, right, for their continued dismissal of black lives, right
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for their continued abuse, right, and their complicity in this system with the police of murdering black people, right
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So right now we want to do something that we do to close out all of our actions and our meetings
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We want to give energy to this movement and to ourselves in this movement, right. We appreciate all this energy that we're giving out to folks
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that we're trying to build up awareness and all that, but we also got to lift each other up
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and remind ourselves of our duty to each other and to this movement
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It is our duty to fight for freedom. It is our duty to fight for freedom
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It is our duty to win. We must love and protect one another
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We have nothing to lose but our chains. It is our duty to fight for freedom
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It is our duty to win. We must love and protect one another
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We have nothing to lose but our chains. It is our duty to fight for freedom
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It is our duty to win! We must love and protect one another
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We have nothing to lose but our change! Our change
