Solidarity protest held in Buffalo
Solidarity protest held in Buffalo
By Mara Abbott
Buffalo Bulletin
Via Wyoming News Exchange
BUFFALO — As 16-year-old Danica Boyce stood in tears on the stage at Crazy Woman Square, a crowd of roughly 100 chanted up at her: “We love you.”
It was the crescendo of Monday night's "peaceful solidarity protest,” organized by a trio of recent Buffalo High School graduates who said they wanted to offer community members an opportunity to speak out against racial injustice.
Protests have spread across the country and the world since George Floyd, an unarmed black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee against Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes. The May 25 incident occurred after Floyd allegedly used a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store. All four officers involved were fired, and Chauvin faces charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.
Surrounded by friends before the Buffalo protest, Boyce said she felt protected.
"It's mostly scary to just kind of stand up as a minority, showing yourself as a person and showing what you want – the change that you want to see for people of your skin color and people of your ethnicity,” she said.
Many protesters wore T-shirts painted with the image of an upraised fist and “#BLM,” a reference to the Black Lives Matter movement that was founded in 2013 to combat systemic racism and police brutality.
Kevin Thomas, of Buffalo, said his wife created the shirts. Thomas, who is black, attended the protest with his son, daughter and niece.
“I want them to know that what I'm doing is for their future, in order for them to grow, in order for them to be better people in society,” he said. “I will agree, all lives do matter, but until black lives matter, there can't be any justice."
Rowan Heil, Keegan Hansen Bennett McDonnell and Georgia Wages organized the event.
"The Black Lives Matter movement has never been bigger than it is right now,” Heil said. “I think that it's up to us to stand up and to listen to them and to do our part.”
The protests that followed Floyd's death began in large cities, but have since spread to small towns and rural areas in all 50 states. In Wyoming, large protests continue to take place in Casper and Laramie, but have also appeared in towns like Dubois and Pinedale.
A reported crowd of 500 attended a protest in Sheridan earlier this month. Although some of the initial protests in larger cities turned violent, those in Wyoming have remained largely peaceful.
"There's ignorance everywhere," Boyce said. "I've definitely felt a little bit more of it here, just from living in a smaller community with more conservative viewpoints, but I feel like the fact that we can have this kind of thing is showing the change.”
Monday's march began in front of the Johnson County Judicial Center and moved on the sidewalk along Fort Street until it reached Crazy Woman Square. The assembled crowd spanned all age groups: Children rode on parents' shoulders, while one older marcher walked with the assistance of a cane.
At the request of organizers, almost all of the participants wore masks due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. They stayed on sidewalks throughout the walk so as not to impede traffic, carrying signs with slogans such as, "Don't let isolation make you ignorant,” and "Being silent is complicit."
In block lettering, one sign read, “This is fighting for my country. Black lives matter to veterans.”
Although three or four pickups flying Confederate and Gadsden
flags and “Trump 2020” banners buzzed up and down Fort Street in counter-protest, many other passing cars brought honks and cheers of support.
The organizers had notified the Buffalo Police Department about the
event a week in advance, said Chief Jason Carder. Police vehicles with
their lights flashing insulated the group from the front, back and sides throughout the walk downtown.
“Our goal is that everyone gets a chance to be safe,” Carder said. He paused to shout for a fellow officer: "Get that truck out of here!” as a pickup circled Crazy Woman Square, revving its engine.
Some states and police departments have committed to new practices and training procedures in the wake of protests, but Carder said that the Buffalo Police Department didn't plan to make any changes.
"Unfortunately, we're in a new era," Carder said. "But we always stay on top of our training, we're always working with our communities.”
Thomas, the protester, said he appreciated the police presence at the march.
“I personally know almost every single police officer in this town, and we have great rapport with each other. I love talking to them; they talk to me and my kids,” he said.
Thomas said he was raised in a poor neighborhood in Texas, growing up amid “guns, a lot of racism and killing," things he said haven’t been a part of his experience since moving to Buffalo 12 years ago.
“One thing I love about Wyoming, period, out of everything I've been through in my life, Wyoming has taught me to love and embrace my fellow man,” he said. “It lets me raise my kids in a different environment from what I grew up in.”
Once the group reached the square, the protesters observed 8 minutes, 46 seconds of silence, representing the amount of time that Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck. Amid the stillness, a group of roughly 10 counter-protesters, who later identified themselves as high school students, ran around the square with flags yelling, “Trump 2020!" and "All lives matter!"
Several adults across the street also shouted at the protesters, telling them not to kneel before the American flag that was displayed on the stage.
Buffalo Mayor Shane Schrader watched the event from a distance with several police officers.
“They have the right to a peaceful protest and so does everybody else,” he said.
A succession of speakers took to the stage to address the crowd, amplifying their voices with a brown cardboard megaphone.
"I am an indigenous woman in America," said Corrin LaMere of Sheridan, who is of Chippewa Cree, Crow and Pueblo heritage. "My dad is black, and I fear for his life every single day. I fear for my sisters' lives every single day. I shouldn't have to fear for their lives because of the color of their skin. I shouldn't have to fear for my own life as a woman of color in Wyoming.”
The gathering concluded as Boyce stood in front of a kneeling
crowd and sang the national anthem in a strong, clear voice. Before
she reached the final “home of the brave,” many of her fellow protesters had already joined in the refrain.