Nearly 200 Pullman and Moscow community members gathered peacefully to protest acts of police brutality in solidarity with Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrations happening across the U.S.
Protestors stuck to the sidewalks, waving signs and chanting as they made their way through downtown Pullman on a two-mile route which began at the Gladdish Community Center parking lot and stopped at Reaney Park.
“I hope that you will all join us to peacefully demonstrate and send a message to the world that our community is here to support our (people of color) community members,” the Facebook event said.
Samantha Fulgham, who organized the event via Facebook, said she wanted to create a safe space for people in the community who couldn’t make it to protests in Seattle, Portland or Spokane to share their experiences. She did not expect such a big turnout.
“I didn’t see anything being planned locally and I thought, ‘Wow, the people in this community may not have the opportunity to have their voices heard,’” Fulgham said. “The experiences of the black community — it is here. Our community is no different from any community in America experiencing police brutality.”
Organizers of Pullman’s protest asked participants to stay six feet apart and wear personal protective equipment like masks and gloves. While almost no one maintained distance, most protestors wore masks and avoided touching others.
Similar protests have erupted across the U.S. in response to the actions of a former Minneapolis police officercharged with the death of George Floyd, a black man.
In a widely-circulated video initially posted to Facebook, Floyd can be seen handcuffed with his face pressed into the ground pleading “I can’t breathe” repeatedly before he eventually became unresponsive.
Jesse Redheart, a Pullman resident, said his family prepared him for dangerous police interactions from a young age.
“I remember being in high school, growing up in the inner city when the Trayvon Martin thing happened,” Redheart said. “The next night my mom had me and my brother, at a table, with a list of our rights and what we should do if cops are after us.”
Redheart’s girlfriend, Avery Smalls, also came to the protest. Smalls is a Washington State University alumna from a black family.
“We weren’t expecting this many people to show up. This is amazing,” Smalls said. “I’ve been crying just listening to people talk.”
Floyd’s death May 25 struck a chord with many Americans, triggering a wave of frustration with police brutality that echoed across the globe. Large demonstrations have taken place in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Berlin and dozens of cities in-between, according to a recent article from The New York Times.
Jason Kennedy, who helped organize the Pullman protest, wanted it to be peaceful to set an example.
“We get riots when people don’t listen to the peaceful protests,” Kennedy said. “Martin Luther King said, ‘A riot is the language of the unheard.’ People haven’t been heard, so they’re speaking out.”
Pullman Police officer Todd Dow said the organizers of Pullman’s protest notified the department of the event in advance.
“We’ll be close by in case something does happen,” Dow said. “Our plan really is just to give them space and let them do what they need to do.”
Derek Chauvin, the white officer responsible for Floyd’s death, was captured on video pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 43 seconds, including nearly three minutes after he became unresponsive, according to a criminal complaint released by prosecutors Friday.
Chauvin has since been fired and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, according to Hennepin County attorney Mike Freeman.
The other three officers involved, who failed to intervene or check Floyd’s pulse at any time, were fired but have not been arrested or charged.
A Pullman resident who stumbled across Sunday’s protest, Nick Waltering, made a brief appearance to interrupt speakers at the event, calling BLM and its supporters racist. Waltering, a white man, said he was sitting at home in peace when he heard protestors chanting from afar.
“I am upset that all I hear is black lives matter, black lives matter, black lives matter,” Waltering said. “We all matter.”
In a statement Friday, Pullman Police Department Chief Gary Jenkins condemned the actions of the Minneapolis police officer responsible for Floyd’s death.
“Not only are we disgusted by the actions of the officer directly responsible for the death of Mr. Floyd, but also by the lack of intervention by the other officers who, by simply standing by, were complicit in his death,” the release said. “Those who are complicit in incidents like this must also be held accountable.”
In the last year alone, police officers in the U.S. killed 1,099 people, according to data compiled by Mapping Police Violence, a research and advocacy group.
In the same study, black people were 24% of those killed despite being only 13% of the population.
KT Turner, a graduate student at the University of Idaho, said that when she moved to Moscow she knew she would be one of few people of color.
“Seeing everybody out here today, seeing that people actually care and that I’m not alone — I feel a little safer,” Turner said.
Angela Palermo can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @apalermooo