Oluwatoyin Salau, Missing Black Lives Matter Activist, Found Dead at the Age of 19
By: Executive Tea Staff
Oluwatoyin Salau and Victoria Sims
The body of Black Lives Matter activist Oluwatoyin Salau was discovered last Saturday in Tallahassee, Florida alongside another victim. She had been missing for six days, according to her family. The other victim, identified as 75-year-old Victoria Sims, was an AARP volunteer who people speculate was attempting to help Oluwayotin.
The news of Oluwayotin Salau shook social media, with thousands of people offering their condolences and demanding justice for the young activist. Before Salau went missing, she was active on the frontlines in nationwide protests calling for justice for George Floyd. “Right now, our lives matter, black lives matter,” Salau said in a video that has since gone viral.
Both Salau and Sims were found dead in a home belonging to 49-year-old Aaron Glee Jr., who has since been charged with murdering and kidnapping in their deaths. Eerily enough, Salau’s final tweet before her disappearance detailed abuse she experienced.
The murder of Oluwatoyin has brought attention to the lack of representation of Black women within the movement. Cases of police brutality involving Black women - like Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, and Natasha McKenna - often don’t pick up as much media attention and national outrage as their male peers.
Tallahassee police did confirm that Oluwatoyin contacted their department to report her assault, but they do not believe there is a connection between the assault she experienced and her ultimate death.
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