By Alexis Taylor
Special to the AFRO
Thousands marched through the streets of Baltimore City Monday afternoon to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd and demand an end to the police brutality plaguing Black America.
Led by Baltimore City youth, the first part of the rally kicked off at 4 p.m. with words from Kelly Davis, wife of Keith Davis Jr., poet Mecca Verdell, and other youth organizers.
“Do not let this be a one day occurrence,” Davis said, looking into the sea of people gathered at the Baltimore Convention Center. “We are not outnumbered, we are out organized. We have the numbers. We have the power.”
Baltimore protestors have taken to the streets to speak out against police brutality and injustice. (Photo/Alexis Taylor)
“If you are a politician…use your platform, stick your neck out, put your reputation on the line for your people.”
The protest was nonviolent throughout the day and included performance art from the very youth who say they organized the demonstration with five text messages. The anger and emotion in their pieces was palpable.
The youth highlighted the country’s love of Black culture- but not Black lives or the struggle that accompanies them, and decried the many injustices that have led to violence across the country.
“Don’t be mad at the voices, be mad at the choices that were made,” said Mecca Verdell, reciting a poem for the crowd. “Don’t be scared when we stop writing about this, and start rioting about this.”
Protestors took to the Jones Falls Expressway at one point and were met by a police car that slowly backed off the interstate after a brief conversation. Marchers left I-83 and passed the Baltimore City Correctional Center on Greenmount Avenue before looping back to City Hall.
At one point, several officers kneeled in solidarity with the crowd, as taunts of “coward” met those who refused the gesture. Calls to oust racist, power-drunk police officers and their silent partners echoed through downtown Baltimore all afternoon and into the evening.
“If it wasn’t for social media posts there really wouldn’t be a light on the kind of crooked that police are out here doing to us,” said Melvin Townes, 21, who supported the demonstrations early in the day.
Though youth demonstrators and their supporters were peaceful, police officers were met with much rowdier protesters after the sun went down and the youth dispersed.
After an arrest around 10:30 pm, the atmosphere became increasingly uneasy. The men of Baltimore’s COR, led by Munir Bahar, tried to keep order along with other citizens concerned about police punishing peaceful protestors in response to the actions of unruly “outsiders.”
After fireworks were thrown at officers, the White culprit was marched to police by Black protestors. Others who were deemed “outsiders” were physically pushed out of the crowd.
Flashbangs caused the crowd to panic at several points, but they continued to return and face off with police well after midnight. Calls to “hold the line” could be heard over other protestors imploring people to go home after the third ignored warning to disperse.
Though he wants to create a positive narrative for himself and everyone around him, when asked what he thought about the rioting taking place in response to Floyd’s killing, Townes said he understands.
“Every time something happens to a Black man we protest and we protest,” he told the AFRO, standing in front of Baltimore’s City Hall. “When we start to uprise, we make them feel our pain. That’s the only way for them to understand us. The only way is to show them and come together.”
