More police shootings bring on more street protests in Durham and Raleigh
Chants of “Black Lives Matter” were heard again in downtown Raleigh and Durham on Friday evening, as people condemned police shootings of young men of color around the country.
The gatherings were small compared to the crowds that coursed through Durham and Raleigh last May after the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. Those protests continued well into the summer and kept many downtown Raleigh businesses boarded up against a potential repeat of vandalism and looting that occurred in late May.
Friday’s protests began peacefully. A few dozen came together outside the Executive Mansion in Raleigh, before marching through the streets of downtown.
“People are dying, and the governor needs to address it,” said Vicki Brent, an 18-year-old student at Millbrook High School, who said she wanted to see more accountability for law enforcement across the board.
In Durham, more than 100 gathered at the corner of Dillard and Mangum streets near the county courthouse.
Among them was Kaleb Graves, 23, a Baptist minister studying at Duke Divinity School, who said he came out because the country has a problem with systemic racism.
“People of color are disproportionately affected, and that is a sin,” Graves said.
The protests were prompted in part by two recent cases of white police officers fatally shooting young men of color: 13-year-old Adam Toledo in Chicago and 20-year-old Daunte Wright in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center. Durham marchers also called attention to the death of Jaida Peterson, a Black transgender woman who was found dead in a Charlotte hotel room April 4.
The crowd walked downtown Durham streets carrying banners and signs that said “trans power,” “abolish,” and “stop killing us.” Occasionally the procession stopped and people made short speeches about injustices for people of color or who are transgender. They also called for abolishing the police.
Later, as the crowd moved down Main Street, people turned over garbage and recycling cans in the street and tagged buildings and bus stops with graffiti that said “Daunte Wright,” “soon we shoot back,” and “F12,” an anti-police abbreviation. As marchers walked past Durham police headquarters, they burned two American flags while chanting “(expletive) the police.”
Two recent killings fuel protests
A Chicago police officer fired a single shot that killed Toledo in the early morning hours of March 29. The officer had responded to a report of gunfire and chased Toledo down an alley, yelling at him to stop and drop a handgun that prosecutors say he was carrying.
A video from the officer’s body camera released Thursday shows Toledo stopping, turning and raising his empty hands as the officer fired. Police say they found a gun a few feet away. Toledo was a seventh grader at Gary Elementary School.
Wright was killed by a single shot from one of three officers who had pulled him over for having an expired registration and something hanging from his rear-view mirror. The officers subsequently learned that Wright had an outstanding warrant for failing to appear in court.
After initially getting out of his car, Wright struggled with the officers and attempted to drive off. Officer Kimberly Ann Potter, a 26-year veteran of the police department, threatened to “tase” Wright with a stun gun but actually fired a single shot from her handgun.
Potter and the city police chief resigned two days later. The next day, Potter was charged with second-degree manslaughter.
Raleigh protesters pass through Oakwood
After a few speeches in front of the Executive Mansion, protesters marched down Jones Street and through the Oakwood neighborhood chanting “Black Lives Matter” and the names of Toledo and Wright, along with Peterson and another Chicago shooting victim, Anthony Alvarez.
They urged residents to “get out of their homes and into the streets,” and referred to gentrification as they marched past new modern homes and lots in the middle of deconstruction.
“Black people used to live here,” one chant echoed.
Raleigh police officers followed in cars, several times warning marchers through a loudspeaker that they would be arrested if they didn’t get off the street and return to the sidewalk.
The crowd eventually headed downtown, swelling to about 50 to 60 people as it wound past bars and restaurants and back to the Executive Mansion. By 8:30 p.m., the event was over.
Dante Mobley, a student at Enloe High School, said she joined the Raleigh protest to demand justice.
“Justice is a living breathing Adam Toledo,” she said. “Justice is a living breathing Daunte Wright.”
Taking the bullhorn, Brent, the Millbrook student, told the Raleigh crowd that the goal of the protest, and others like it, was to fight white supremacy.
“This is not just a cop problem,” she said. “It’s an America problem.”
This story was originally published April 16, 2021 at 8:12 PM with the headline "More police shootings bring on more street protests in Durham and Raleigh."
