Durham’s march to protest Floyd death combines poetry reading with calls for action
Hundreds of people marched to the Durham’s police headquarters again Wednesday evening, and later blocked traffic on the Durham Freeway, continuing the campaign for change that has taken root across the country after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The marchers said the protests of the past week had gotten the world’s attention but that they need to keep pressing to make sure their message leads to action.
“What we need to do is use this opportunity to make massive, significant changes to policy,” said Elizabeth Crudup, one of the organizers. “Because at the end of the day, it’s the policies that are now in place that brought us here.
“We want action from our city council, from our judicial system, from our legislators, from the governor’s office. We need action,” she continued. “That’s more than the rubber bullets being fired at us.”
Crudup was referring to the police response to protests in other cities, including Raleigh, where officers in riot gear have used tear gas, pepper spray and foam rubber bullets to disperse crowds.
Durham has avoided those kinds of confrontations and the unrest that followed the protests in Raleigh on Saturday and Sunday. Protesters say that’s in part because Durham police have taken a less aggressive approach to managing the crowds by focusing primarily on controlling traffic and giving demonstrators space to march and rally.
That approach was evident again Wednesday. As the crowd stopped in front of police headquarters to listen to people speak, the few police present mostly directed traffic.
While Raleigh residents were under an 8 p.m. curfew for the third night in a row, Durham has no plans to impose one, Mayor Steve Schewel said Wednesday.
“It has not been necessary because of the superb leadership of our local protests — people who deplore racism but love our city — and because of the non-confrontational response of our police force which has acted in an exemplary manner,” Schewel wrote in an email to The News & Observer.
“I remain concerned that a small group of people could cause violence in our city,” Schewel said. “But I know the great majority of the protesters will continue to remain peaceful and that our police will continue their wise course of action.”
Wednesday’s march began at Long Meadow Park, east of downtown, where people listened to speakers, many expressing themselves through spoken word poetry they read from their phones through a bullhorn. They then divided into two groups, one that included children and G-rated chants.
After stopping at police headquarters, the marchers moved to CCB Plaza downtown for a rally that lasted more than an hour. After a stop at the county jail, the marchers split up again, with one group heading back toward the police station and the other toward the Durham Freeway.
Police had blocked traffic in both directions on the freeway at South Mangum Street, as protesters ascended an entrance ramp, walked a short way and exited again.
At one point, a moment of silence for George Floyd was interrupted by a car barreling down East Main Street. Protesters, all lying down in a “die-in” meant to signify Floyd’s death, jumped up and ran. While police had blocked the major entrances to the street, a side street intersection was open, allowing a black Mazda to enter. No one was injured.
On Thursday, police said they didn’t know how the car was able to enter the road, according to The N&O’s news partners at ABC11. In a statement, Durham police said the car turned around and headed southwest, but police were not able to pursue the driver due to the protest.
On Monday, a group of protesters had marched onto the Durham Freeway and hung a banner from the R. Kelly Bryant pedestrian bridge, blocking traffic for a half hour. Organizer Skip Gibbs used the demonstration to secure a promise from the Durham sheriff and police chief to attend a Friday summit to talk about overpolicing and poverty in the black community.
The night ended back in front of police headquarters for a “die-in,” with hundreds of people lying in the street in silence.
Marchers say one protest not enough
The first Black Lives Matter march in Durham after Floyd’s death took place Saturday and lasted all afternoon and into the night. But as in other cities, protesters said a single day of demonstrations wouldn’t be enough.
“If I have to come here every day after work I will do this, so we can live in the change we want to see,” Lashannen Walker, 23, told the crowd. “We don’t want to be fed off crumbs, we don’t want to keep allowing them to say ‘Oh, we’re gonna do this and then do that’ and then move on. No, we need to keep pushing until we have everything we want.”
Walker, a student of N.C. Central University who grew up in Minneapolis, said she just wants to feel safe.
“I want to be able to walk out of my house and have the same privileges as a white person,” she said. “I want to be able to one day have kids, and not have to worry about their safety, their sanity.”
Tamika Childs, 33, reminded the crowd Wednesday that the Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama didn’t end with Rosa Parks’ arrest in 1955. It lasted nearly a year. Childs said in an interview that she’s been to three other protests and is prepared to protest every day until she moves away from Durham this summer.
“Every. Single. Day,” she said.
The march attracted some first-timers as well. Christal, who did not want to give her last name because she has a job with the government, was at her first protest with her 8-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter.
She said she decided to come to the protest because her son had questions: “What’s a protest?” “Why are they killing us?” On Wednesday, he held a sign that said, “Don’t kill my daddy.”
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 8:32 PM.
