‘We want justice.’ Groups of protesters march across Raleigh for hours to decry racism.
As hundreds gathered in North Carolina on Saturday for a memorial service for George Floyd, protesters took to the streets of the state’s capital for hours.
Different groups, including educators and clergy, protested at various times and various spots in and around downtown Raleigh. Sometimes, groups met up and marched together to someplace new. Along the way, some marchers taped photos of George Floyd to light poles.
By late afternoon, the crowd in the area around Capitol Square numbered more than 1,000. Most of the protesters all day were peaceful.
But about 6 p.m., a small group of protesters at the Capitol began taunting police officers. A larger group then left downtown, marching to Glenwood South, Cameron Village and back.
Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin, who faced criticism for her handling of last weekend’s protests, joined protesters at a Community of Faith Prayer Walk.
“This is really a healing moment and to have all our pastors leading us in prayer and peace,” said Baldwin. “I need some prayer and peace right now. I just want to join in and show my support.”
After the prayer walk marched to the Capitol, members of the clergy spoke of God’s love and ending racism, and there was a performance of the civil rights movement protest anthem “We Shall Overcome.” Nearby, a younger, more outspoken crowd played rap music, listened to speeches and jeered at police.
Moments after yelling profanities at officers guarding the Capitol, Deandre Holmes, 31, a black Raleigh resident, said, “I love you. I’m in a lot of pain right now,” as he shook hands with a white policeman.
At one point, a group of several hundred in front of the Confederate Monument sat in silence for eight minutes in honor of Floyd, while another group chanted nearby and taunted police by oinking into megaphones and shouting “F--- your curfew!” When police erected a barricade, the crowd was angered.
At times the group focused on a black police officer, asking, “What happened to you man?”
Raleigh’s 10 p.m. curfew continues Saturday and Sunday nights.
Marching to Cameron Village
The large contingent splintered off just before 7 p.m., marching down Hillsborough Street to Glenwood South and then to Peace Street and toward Cameron Village, where National Guard soldiers were set up.
As the group marched down West Peace, Kanye West and Biggie Smalls songs played from a speaker carried by a protester.
Alexander Scott, 30, was at the front of the march to Cameron Village, where protesters chatted and took photos with police officers, fist-bumped National Guard soldiers and rested peacefully before heading back toward downtown.
“I’ve been politically active and civically engaged most of my life,” said Scott, who is originally from Durham. “I’ve been an activist before, but this is different. There’s a broader coalition. Every person here has something that they’re going to carry away that will create substantive change.”
The separation of groups Saturday night was no accident.
Activist and Living Ultra-violet organizer Conrad James told The N&O during the march from Cameron Village to downtown that the smaller group at the Capitol, Raleigh Demands Justice, likes to antagonize the police, rile them up and “egg them on.” So the organizations decided on Friday that they would split and do their own thing.
Raleigh Demands Justice released a statement in response to James’ comments:
“On Saturday, May 30, a group of Raleigh community organizations partnering to combat police violence under the name #RaleighDemandsJustice, held a historic peaceful rally/march in Downtown Raleigh.
“Since that time, dozens of organically and community-led protests have occurred throughout Raleigh. We, as #RaleighDemandsJustice do not and will not prescribe how other people should respond in this moment.
“The demands laid out to the City of Raleigh are not new but have been amplified by the voices of the people. In any spontaneous movement by the people, there will always be attempts to try and sow chaos and division but it is important for the people to remain focused on the goal of policy change.
“The organizations partnering with #RaleighDemandsJustice are singularly concerned with effectuating policy change for the bettering of our communities and the people.”
Living Ultra-violet was joined by the groups NC Born and Unite. As they marched back up Glenwood Avenue toward Hillsborough Street, protesters ran to bystanders with posters showing QR codes, which the bystanders scanned with their phones. The codes went to a website with information on a proposal to de-fund the police.
The marchers also persuaded some diners at Southern Charred restaurant on Glenwood South to leave their own parties and join the march. Restaurant workers from several establishments came out to give the protesters water.
“This is something,” said Sam Metersky, 20, a Raleigh visitor who joined the march with friends after it passed down Glenwood Avenue. “This is going to be a page in the freaking history books 20 years from now.”
The crowd grew thinner after 9 p.m. After a few speeches at the Capitol, they had an eight-minute moment of silence while protesters sat or kneeled with one fist raised in the air.
“I want y’all to disperse safely and calmly,” an organizer was heard instructing the crowd. Another speaker told the crowd to celebrate Floyd’s life and go home safely.
‘I’ll be here every day until we win’
Earlier Saturday afternoon, Max Williams, 26, joined other protesters at downtown’s Nash Square.
Williams has participated in protests every day since last Saturday, when he was struck in three separate places by rubber bullets. He also was tear gassed and pepper sprayed.
“I’ll be here every day until we win,” Williams said.
His friend Eric Steele, 28, said he would like to see both Mayor Baldwin and Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown step down.
Baldwin said that dealing with the violence from police and protesters alike has been a “heart-wrenching and gut-wrenching experience” and that these peaceful protests are an “opportunity for change.”
She said she was inspired by former president Barack Obama’s recent Town Hall on this matter. Raleigh’s police advisory board will be asked by the city to look at adopting the “8 Can’t Wait” campaign, an eight-point police reform agenda being pushed nationally.
“RPD does most of what they are asked,” Baldwin said. “From a policy standpoint, we feel it’s important to have an open process and open assessment and to do it very transparently and independent from the city.”
A tense response
Baldwin’s comments prompted a tense response from Dawn Blagrove, an activist and director of Emancipate NC, a state racial justice nonprofit.
“Are you opposed to the demands of the people who actually live in Raleigh?” asked Blagrove. “Why would you go to a national source for demands when the people of Raleigh have told you what they need?”
Baldwin defended the decision to follow the “8 Can’t Wait” agenda, and asked Blagrove if she was familiar with it.
“I am, but I’m also familiar with the demands that Raleigh PACT has been making here for the last four years, and all the time, effort and proposals that have gone to their presentations,” Blagrove said.
Baldwin said that the city will be sitting down with activists soon to discuss these proposals. The mayor said that she is committed to listening both to national and local concerns.
Blagrove, an attorney with the Carolina Justice Policy Center, wore a #RaleighDemandsJustice shirt with a list of demands that included: “Fire Deck-Brown/Oversight with accountability/Defund the police/Good cops step up/Invest in people.”
Children take part
Al Woyee was one of many parents who brought their children to the Community of Faith gathering.
His son, Xavier, 10, asked his dad earlier in the week if they were going to demonstrate, and his dad told him, “We’ll come out when the time is right.”
“We felt today was a good day,” Woyee said in front of the Duke Energy Center. “We’re gonna show solidarity and support.”
At the Black Ministerial Alliance service at the Capitol, Allison Strickland was with her husband and two children. She said she heard about the service and wanted to bring 8-year-old Alice and 6-year-old Hayes.
“I’m a member of the faith community and I’m frustrated and saddened, and when I heard the faith community would be out here to send a loud message that black lives matter, I wanted to be part of it and my children be part of it,” Strickland said.
She said they have had many conversations at home about what is happening. When racism comes up in the news or in books, she addresses it with her children immediately.
“It’s not as hard as the conversations black mothers are having with her children,” said Strickland, who is white. She said she didn’t know if her children fully grasped what was happening, but she wants them to see the bigger picture.
“They’re confused because they treat everybody the same and they don’t understand why adults don’t do that,” Strickland said.
Letting students know they care
Early in the afternoon, a group of about 300 teachers and children gathered in support of students of color, marching from John Winters Park to the state Capitol building in downtown Raleigh. The teachers were white, black and brown.
They brought their children, who ranged from elementary to high school age, and they marched silently, holding up signs that read, “Black Lives Matter” and “White silence is violence.”
Brian Schneidewind, a teacher at Orange High School and one of the organizers of the event, said the goal is to let their African American students know that they are there for them.
“We also realize that what we are doing is not enough, and we’re going to do everything we can to step up our efforts to show that their safety is important,” he said.
Elizabeth Dotts, a teacher at Sanderson High School in Raleigh, said the same.
“It’s important for them to see that it’s not just a social media post,” Dotts said. “It’s not just lip service. We’re actually out here wanting the same thing for them. We want justice. We want them to see that we understand. And we want to know more and to help.”
On the 3/4-mile walk from the park to the Capitol, some in cars honked their horns in support. Some thanked them, including a few police officers.
But one man walked by with a long-barrel weapon on his back. He did not engage the protesters, but he held up his phone as if recording the crowd. A group of officers nearby stopped the man before letting him go on his way.
When the protesters got to the Capitol building they stopped for a moment of silence. After a few minutes they all chanted, “You can do better. We can do better!”
‘Your life matters’
Tyler Muller-Yoder, 27, a pastor at St. Francis United Methodist Church in Cary, came to the prayer walk with others in his church.
“All people, especially our black and brown siblings, are created in the image of God, and we have done a lot in this country to erode and diminish that,” Muller-Yoder said.
“We need to ... be with people and say, ‘You are made in the image of God, and your life matters.’”
Courtnee and Lynwood Roberts also came out to let their voices be heard.
“We want change, here we are, see us,” said Courtnee Roberts. “I want to see small changes in the community, how we go about day to day life.”
Some of the changes Roberts would like to see include the micro-aggressions she faces — things like comments about her hair and or people expressing surprise about the degrees she holds. Roberts feels that communication would go a long way.
“We have different skin, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find something in common,” she said.
A similar prayer walk earlier in the day in Cary ended with Apex and Cary police officers washing the feet of pastors James and Faith Wokoma of the Legacy Center Church in Cary. In the book of 1 Samuel in the Bible, washing the feet of another is considered an act of humility.
This story was originally published June 6, 2020 at 3:34 PM.
