Small, peaceful crowd protests outside Durham jail to remember George Floyd
Another peaceful protest, though much smaller than Monday night, was held Tuesday evening outside the Durham County jail to remember George Floyd, the black man who was killed by police last week in Minneapolis.
About 60 people chanted, ‘Hey, hey, ho, ho, racist cops have got to go.” A majority of the drivers passing the protesters in Durham either honked their car horns in support or raised their fists out their window as a sign of solidarity, drawing cheers from the crowd.
People inside the jail beat on the windows in unison with the protesters’ chants of “Black Lives Matter.”
Davida Douglass, 24, said Tuesday was the first time she has demonstrated in public since Floyd was killed. She said she drove from Creedmoor to Durham to protest in front of the jail.
“I think they are doing a good job in Durham of being heard, and they are being peaceful,” she said.
Compared to Raleigh, Douglass said, there are “fewer cops in Durham” and they aren’t “provoking” protesters. She said several of her friends in Raleigh were hit by tear gas and pepper spray during protests.
Yohan Francois, 27, was handing out masks to protesters who hadn’t brought their own, as a protection against the coronavirus threat. As a front-line health worker, he had a few to spare.
Francois said he came out to protest what he called the “two different justice systems” in America: one for cops and the other for everyone else.
“I would like to look at the situation with a little hope,” Francois said in reference to the wave of protests across the nation. “But with the corruption in the police departments, I have my doubts.”
“Police committed that crime [killing Floyd] because they feel they are above the law and they usually get away with it,” he added. “If there were no cameras, he would get away with it.”
Monday’s Durham protest was much bigger
On Monday evening, a crowd estimated at more than 1,000 people marched through downtown Durham in protest. Earlier that day, there was a separate group of protesters who gathered on the Durham Freeway and remained until getting a promise from the sheriff and police chief that there would be a summit Friday to discuss overpolicing in the city.
Anthony Cherry, 54, of Durham, said he has protested over the years in Atlanta, Charlotte, and Raleigh. He was one of Tuesday evening’s protesters in Durham.
This moment is a tipping point, Cherry said, because video of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis was on TV and it happened soon after in incident in which Amy Cooper, a white woman, called police on birder Chris Cooper, a black man, in New York. He said she refused his request to leash her dog, then falsely accused him of threatening her life.
“It’s all on camera,” Cherry said. “They can’t deny it anymore. We’re tired of having the cops killing us. We’re tired of the cops watching cops killing us.”
‘Bob Marley’ song
Cherry held a sign that said “Am I next? with the names of black people who died in police custody, include Eric Garner, Sandra Bland and Floyd.
On the flip side, his sign said “How many weren’t recorded?”
Adrianne Rollins, 24, carried a #Black Lives Matter sign that also had the names of African Americans killed by police.
“As a people, we are tired, we’re at our wit’s end,” said Rollins, a Durham resident. It’s time to find solutions, she said, and “come together as a community and be able to stand together.”
As the protesters gathered, and more came after sunset, the song “One Love” by Bob Marley was being played by someone in the crowd.
A few people asked that the volume be tuned up.
The protesters later marched through downtown streets. There were chants of “Black lives matter” and “No justice, no peace” before the group stopped in front of Durham police headquarters about 9 p.m.
People were sharing with the group why they are protesting.
“George Floyd reminds me of my dad, my grandfather,” one said.
“I’m scared to let my son go outside with a water gun,” another protester said.
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 8:06 PM.
