Raleigh protest organizers say riots marred Floyd’s memory, messages against racism
A Cary nurse organized a peaceful, funeral-style processional Sunday through downtown Raleigh to honor George Floyd’s memory, only to see violence and looting shut it down before it could begin.
A Raleigh-based group called Living Ultra-Violet gathered at the Executive Mansion around 4 p.m. Sunday to demonstrate against the racism many believe led to Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. But around 8:20 p.m., they saw downtown Raleigh enveloped in chaos and destruction for a second night in a row.
“‘We’re here to destroy the city’ was the mentality of the other group,” said Conrad James, Living Ultra-Violet organizer, in an interview with The News & Observer. “I got them to come to us to the rave and they were all cool for five minutes, then they said ‘We’re not here to have fun. We’re here to tear stuff down.’”
Meanwhile, organizers of a demonstration on Saturday known as Raleigh Demands Justice were frustrated about a peaceful event that devolved into destruction.
All of the organizers say they wanted to bring about change via peaceful means, only to see their message muddled by people unaffiliated with their groups who damaged property all over downtown. At least 45 people were arrested in Raleigh between Saturday and Monday, including in downtown, at North Hills shopping area and Triangle Town Center.
“The protest we had was peaceful,” said Kerwin Pittman, part of Raleigh Demands Justice. “A lot of the organizers left and other people came in to protest, which is their constitutional right. What I do want to reiterate is the main cause that people are coming out for.”
At a press conference Monday, Raleigh Demands Justice organizers discussed a Sunday meeting they said they had with N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper to talk about how police handle cases like Floyd’s.
Sunday, Cooper said at a press conference that he worried the “cry of the people is being drowned out by the noise of the riots,” The N&O reported.
“People are more important than property,” he said. “Black lives do matter.”
On Monday, Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin ordered an 8 p.m. curfew to curtail the violence.
Processional canceled
That curfew was too late for Cheryl Patel, the Cary nurse, who said the Raleigh Police deputy chief she had been working with called late Saturday night, as riots occurred downtown, to tell her police no longer could assist in her processional.
“We wanted a memorial,” Patel said. “We wanted to remember the life of George Floyd. This is an opportunity for us to show a different side of community mourning.”
She already had arranged for cars to meet in a state employees lot to start the parade-like tribute through downtown. As a healthcare professional, she wanted everyone in their cars and adhering to social distancing to prevent spreading the coronavirus.
“We were anticipating 200 cars,” Patel said. “It was going to be a real show of unity.”
But without the planned police escort, she didn’t feel safe going forward with it. The rioters ruined her plan, she said.
“I’m sad that that event couldn’t happen,” Patel said.
How to ease tensions
Living Ultra Violet went ahead with its Sunday event at the Governor’s Mansion. James said state troopers in riot gear pushed protesters.
He said his group was able to throw 129 paper airplanes over the wall that surrounds the mansion. He said the papers listed demands designed to ease tensions between communities of color and law enforcement including: include legalization of cannabis, changes in speed limit enforcement, and citizens’ oversight boards.
The group stayed downtown until 11 p.m., James said.
“That’s when the tear gas was getting thrown,” James said. “We decided we needed to go after we heard the first brick go through the Marbles Museum because we knew it was going to get misconstrued. Our safe place was going to be unsafe.”
James blamed Raleigh Police for “trying to instigate us.”
Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown issued a video statement on Twitter early Sunday morning saying she “absolutely respects and supports the rights of all individuals to peacefully protest.” She said officers were at Saturday’s protest to “observe and ensure the safety of the demonstrators.”
She later defended the actions of law enforcement in its response to the protests Saturday night and early Sunday morning. She said officers reacted after being pelted with rocks and water bottles.
“We had two hours of peaceful protest and the rest was anarchy,” Deck-Brown said at the news conference.
Five officers were taken to hospitals with injuries, Deck-Brown said. All have been released.
“Officers collectively behaved valiantly under unprecedented circumstances and showed tremendous restraint and professionalism,” Deck-Brown said at a news conference Sunday, The News & Observer reported.
Meeting with the governor
The Raleigh Demands Justice group called for Deck-Brown’s removal if their demands aren’t met.
“It is time for her to go,” Pittman said. “No longer will we sit idling by why the citizens are brutalized. No longer will we remain silent while she remains silent to injustice.”
Deck-Brown has been the RPD chief since 2013.
Raleigh Demands Justice organizers listed other demands Monday. They include strengthening a proposed City of Raleigh police oversight board and not building new police stations in areas with large African American populations. They also want a policy that requires officers to intervene if another officer becomes abusive to a detainee.
“We demand, we are not asking, we are demanding, that change is going to come,” said Pittman at Monday’s press conference. He is a social justice activist and founder of Recidivism Reduction Educational Program Services.
The Raleigh Demands Justice group said the riots are a result of law enforcement using military tactics to break up the groups in downtown.
“For kids to be shot with rubber bullets is unacceptable, and it will not be tolerated,” Pittman said. “And we will not stand for that. For nobody in a leadership position in Raleigh Police Department to speak up against that is unacceptable. And we know that actions start from the head down.”
On Sunday, Deck-Brown told reporters she’s attuned to the “tarnished’ history of policing in the United States and around the world, and teaches Raleigh’s officers about it, The N&O reported.
“It’s important to recognize that while I wear this uniform, I am a black woman in America. I get what it’s like to be black, in more ways than any of you will ever imagine or know.”
Raleigh Demands Justice said they want subpoena power to investigate grievances brought up by Raleigh citizens. The group also wants a “seat at the table” when it comes to determining who will be hired as Raleigh police officers.
In the case of George Floyd, the African American man killed by a police officer in Minnesota, three other officers did not intervene as Floyd was being detained. One officer has been arrested; all four officers have been fired.
Pittman said he believes the group’s message against racism was heard before the violence started.
“All the participants in George Floyd’s death haven’t even been charged yet, even after the uproar in the country,” he said. “George Floyd’s death was a modern-day lynching. The issue is not people in the streets looting and vandalizing. The root cause is police brutality, and we’re not looking at that.
“When we let looting and property damage overshadow the reason people are in the streets, we are valuing property more than we value people.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 8:00 AM.