AUSTIN, TX — A Texas man is making a statement by writing the names of 1,400 Black Americans who have died at the hands of police in the United States on his car.
20-year-old Jeremiah Hindberg says he used a database to research Black Americans who have died at the hands of police in the U.S. and came up with 1,400 names.
He wrote each one on his vehicle with a silver sharpie.
Hindberg says he is using his car in hopes to start a conversation on what the Black Lives Matter movement means to him.
"A lot of sadness. I cried in my garage for hours," Hindberg said.
It took several days to write the names, with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor on the hood.
"This is my representation of BLM," said Hindberg. "Some group of people that's being treated unfairly, and that should be fixed."
Hindberg says the violence he and his father witnessed during the protests in Austin back in late May moved him more than anything he's ever experienced.
The two were medics who helped bring injured protesters to aid.
He says many of them were hurt from "less lethal" rounds fired by police, including his father who was shot in the arm and is still recovering from nerve damage today.
"It changed who my dad was fundamentally, as a person," said Hindberg.
As a food delivery driver, Hindberg says reaction to the car ranges from being cursed out in the H-E-B parking lot to more warm moments of gratitude.
"She just looked at me in the eye, and said thank you so much she started to tear up and cry," Hindberg said, describing moments that remind him why he did this to his car.
"Somebody knows that they're cared for. They're not just another number, they're not just another person."
