‘All lives matter,’ Raleigh police chief tells protesters on Night 5 of demonstrations
Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown told a protester that “all lives matter” after meeting with several dozen demonstrators more than an hour after curfew Wednesday night.
It was Raleigh’s fifth straight day of protests against police brutality, which started early Wednesday afternoon with peaceful marches and speeches. It ended by Capitol Square with a few dozen people voicing their frustrations to Deck-Brown.
The group of young people surrounded Deck-Brown to ask for leniency on the curfew and for more accountability from the police department.
At times, their voices rose as many of them told her about their lives — how they have been in and out of the court system, how they don’t feel their voices aren’t heard, how they think police use too many bullets on African Americans.
“I’m speaking my heart,” Jordan Baines told the chief. “At the end of the day, there’s more white people on top of you than there’s black folk. So when your word goes up the ladder, it gets knocked off at some point. So why should I listen?”
Deck-Brown, a black woman who has led the Raleigh Police Department since 2013, said she knows the “concerns of black lives.” Otherwise, she said, she wouldn’t be out meeting with protesters.
But people have to honor the rules, she said.
‘All lives matter’
Protester Kae Diaz, who uses they/them pronouns, asked the chief about white supremacists in downtown Raleigh on Saturday night. They specifically asked about white supremacist symbols painted on LGBTQ bars and signs.
“We are looking into all of it,” Deck-Brown said. “You can’t separate it. We are looking into all of it, and if it turns out to be white supremacy we will deal with that too.”
Diaz cut her off.
“I believe that legality doesn’t equal morality,” Diaz said. “Black lives matter more than property.”
“All lives matter,” Deck-Brown said. “All lives matter.”
“But in this instance, we’re talking about black lives,” Diaz said.
“I think we have to talk about all lives, though,” Deck-Brown said. “And I know exactly what you mean by black lives, and I agree with that. There have been way too many. And we saw that in one of the most recent events. But all lives do matter.
“I know that the concern is black lives,” she said. “If I didn’t think that was an issue, I wouldn’t be out here. And I’m out here. But you have to honor the rules.”
Black Lives Matter is an organization founded in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin. #BlackLivesMatter has become a rallying cry for people seeking an end to systemic racism toward black people. “All lives matter” is a phrase often interpreted as critical of the Black Lives Matter movement.
‘A reckoning point’
Protesters have marched in downtown Raleigh since Saturday following the death of George Floyd, a North Carolina native who was killed after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nine minutes.
His death has sparked protests around the country and the world for police accountability — in particular for people of color.
Wednesday night, the protesters repeatedly — and loudly — asked Deck-Brown for permission to finish their protest and to be allowed to march until 10 p.m.
At one point Deck-Brown told them that, “walking around and yelling doesn’t get us anywhere.”
In the end, a compromise: The group agreed to disperse at 9:45, and headed off to march while chanting “No justice, no peace.”
After the discussion with protesters, Deck-Brown told ABC11, The News & Observer’s newsgathering partner, why she agreed to the compromise — and not to arrest the protesters.
“I think you also have to show an act of good faith,” she said. “And you’ve got to be able to work with people. Right now, law enforcement across the nation is at a point where I think we’re at a reckoning point. We’ve got to reckon with the issues that we face.”
While protesters finished marching, the police chief continued to speak with Joseph Mbemba of Durham and Bryan E. Riddick II of Johnston County about the importance that everyone follow rules if they want a seat at the table.
Deck-Brown said they had leadership qualities and urged them to use that “for the right cause” instead of protesting.
“If you want to have a voice at the table, you gotta recognize what the rules are,” she said.
“We just want to work together,” Mbemba told Deck-Brown.
Mbemba, however, said later that while he understood the chief’s point of view, he said there was no chance the two of them ever would have had that conversation if people hadn’t been marching.
“We’re just feeling like the people who hold the positions of power, positions of leadership, weren’t listening,” he said in an interview.
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 10:21 PM.
