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From Civil Rights Story Time To Marches Through Downtown, Nashvillians Of All Ages Rally For Racial Justice

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Samantha MaxWPLN News
Demonstrators kneel for a moment of silence in memory of George Floyd during a march through Nashville's Lower Broadway.
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Nearly three weeks after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, Nashvillians still filled the streets this weekend, calling for change to policing policies, city budgets and which figures should be honored at the state capitol. Multiple protests happened over the weekend, and they turned out demonstrators of all ages.

A few thousand demonstrators gathered around 5 p.m. Saturday at War Memorial Plaza across from the Tennessee State Capitol and began a march through the downtown shortly afterward.

Blake Farmer WPLN News

Police line the sidewalk outside Lower Broadway bars as marchers pass by during a demonstration against racial injustice.

Demonstrators were met by police holding riot shields as they approached Lower Broadway from Second Avenue. Revelers, including at least a few bachelorette parties, watched from the sidewalk or rooftop bars as the crowd passed by.

Marchers knelt for a moment of silence in honor of George Floyd, the Minnesota man whose death by suffocation while being kneeled on a police officer triggered the latest wave of demonstrations. They called for greater police accountability, including criminal prosecution.

Behind the police cordon, several people thanked the police for being out.

After spending about half hour amid the honky tonks, demonstrators returned to the state Capitol. A woman who remained sitting in the middle of Lower Broadway after marchers had moved on had her hands ziptied. Some patrons applauded as she was led away by police.

Police later identified her as Abigail Bruner, 37, of Chico, Calif. They say she was the only person to be arrested during the protest.

 

The demonstration officially ended about 7 p.m. Organizers urged marchers to come back next week.

Standoff outside Capitol

A slightly older crowd started protesting Friday night, by urging leaders to end white supremacy and police brutality at a campout in War Memorial Plaza.

Several activists pitched tents and spent the night in the space that they’re asking the state to rename Ida B. Wells Plaza, in honor of the black investigative journalist who reported on lynchings and activist movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including civil rights and women’s suffrage.

Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement Friday that “Tennessee law expressly prohibits camping on state property not expressly designated as a campground area, and that law will be enforced.”

Protesters were cleared from the steps shortly before the start of the rally Saturday on War Memorial Plaza. One told a Nashville Scene reporter that they were asked to step aside so the concrete could be power washed, but then they were not permitted to return.

State troopers from the Tennessee Highway Patrol later formed a phalanx and built a barrier in an effort to move demonstrators off the Capitol grounds. A handful of protesters vowed to remain after marchers dispersed.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol said they did not make any arrests.

Children’s march

Earlier on Saturday, the city’s youngest activists chanted from their strollers at the Mamas for Racial Justice March at Bicentennial Mall.

The rally started with civil rights story time. Dozens of kids and their parents listened to a story about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called “Let the Children March.” Mother and organizer Reniece Martin told them about the power of young protesters to make a difference.

“Our march made a difference. We children led the way,” she read.

“We children led the way!” one little boy repeated. The crowd erupted in cheers.

Martin said she helped organize the march because she wanted to provide a space for other mothers “to come out and stand up for racial injustice everywhere.”

“I don’t want my daughter to have to grow up 20 years later and have to be out here, leading marches and leading protests and asking for the same things that my ancestors asked for,” she said. “We’re hoping that our generation can get it right this time.”

The event was planned with kids in mind. Besides starting with a children’s book, Martin also asked those in the crowd about other times they’d had to stand up for what they believed in, like defending a friend from a bully. Then, parents and kids — many of them in strollers — marched through the park, chanting, “Hey, hey, hey, racial justice today” and “Black lives matter.”

Samantha Max WPLN News

Zakiya Boyd, center, says she brought her kids, Nyla, 5, and Armon, 4, to the Mamas for Racial Justice March Saturday to show them that raising your voice can make a difference.

Nashville native Zakiya Boyd brought her two toddlers, Nyla, 5, and Armon, 4, because she wanted them to see that the images of protests they’ve seen on TV are real. And to “help them determine between good and bad.”

When Boyd’s kids asked her why they were going to march, she explained that it was because “some people choose to treat certain people a certain way.”

“We get to go, we get to scream, we get to chant,” she told them. “Hopefully, by doing this, somebody will hear. They’ll hear your voices, they’ll hear mine.”

In between Saturday’s various protests, criminal justice reform organization Gideon’s Army held a press conference to discuss reducing funding for the city’s police. Their requests include pulling police officers out of schools, more — and more equitable — funding for schools, stopping the use of search dogs in schools and firing Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson.

“The reforms are not the end all, be all,” says Jamel Campbell-Gooch, a member of the group’s Violence Interruptors programs and vice chair of the Community Oversight Board. “The goal is to no longer rely on police to ensure public safety.”

 

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