More than 3,000 march against police brutality in SLO: ‘I have tears’
A crowd estimated at more than 3,000 people attended a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Action Rally in downtown San Luis Obispo on Thursday calling for racial justice and equity.
It was the city’s largest demonstration yet, and the fifth protest this week.
The event lasted about three hours with speeches, chants and a moment of silence.
After hearing from speakers who included NAACP members, civil rights activists and students, the crowd sang and danced, before marching through the streets alongside boarded-up windows of businesses.
The event ended peacefully, with many demonstrators citing its positive energy.
“This is the first day of my life living in San Luis Obispo that I have felt so (expletive) comfortable,” event emcee Cavin Stokes said. “I have tears coming out of my eyes. You have no idea how proud I am right now.”
SLO protest
An hour before the event, about a dozen organizers chalked the sidewalks and streets near the courthouse with Xs to encourage social distancing. The ground also bore inspiring and defiant messages in chalk.
Photos of African Americans killed by police rested against the courthouse walls.
Thursday’s rally came in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. Bystanders recorded Floyd telling the officer “I can’t breathe” before becoming unresponsive.
Throughout the night, protesters chanted the names of Floyd and Breonna Taylor, an African-American woman killed in Louisville, Ky., after police shot her at her at least eight times while executing a search warrant at her apartment on March 13.
Police chiefs from nearly each of the county’s law enforcement jurisdictions as well as county Sheriff Ian Parkinson attended the rally, with San Luis Obispo Police Chief Deanna Cantrell and Paso Robles Police Chief Ty Lewis marching with the demonstrators.
The protesters, who from elderly people to college students to young kids, chanted “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now” and “Tell me what democracy looks like? This is what democracy looks like.”
“When you march, this is not a race,” Stokes told the crowd. “We are one body with one message.”
Speakers call for unity, equity
Chaplain Ken Parish kicked off the event with a prayer before welcoming the first speaker, local NAACP chapter co-founder Cheryl Vines.
“I don’t know about you but I’m tired of turning on the news and hearing about my brothers and sisters being murdered,” Vines said, describing the circumstances of Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody. “A $20 counterfeit bill should not be a death sentence.”
Other speakers at Thursday’s rally included Cuesta College professor Zachery McKiernan, RACE Matters SLO County co-founder Courtney Haile and Cal Poly students Jalen Hamler and Cuesta College graduate Tianna Arata.
“Yes, this is a black-led movement but we need others to do the basic leg work,” Arata said. “Don’t look to me for answers. Use your resources.”
“This is not about equality. It’s about equity,” she said.
Hamler, a Cal Poly football quarterback, echoed Arata’s comments, saying, “It’s not about white versus black. It’s always been about right versus wrong.”
“Change doesn’t happen overnight. Success never comes without hard work. We can’t expect anything to happen without new things,” he said. “I’ve seen peaceful protests. I’ve seen violent protests. I haven’t seen too many people go to the mayor and try to get things done.”
“It’s always easy to start something. ... The hardest part is finishing it,” Hamler said. “I won’t stop, my group won’t stop until we get what we deserve, righteousness throughout America.”
Jacqueline Vitti Frederick, CEO of the Latino Outreach Council, told rally participants that “The Latino community feels your pain, the pain that comes from injustice, the pain that comes of being judged not by the content of your character but the color of your skin.”
She recalled her second trial as a civil attorney, an excessive use-of-force case that a young Latinx man filed against the Los Angeles Police Department.
“Injustice is a hard word to define, but you know it when you feel it, and so did George (Floyd),” Frederick said.
She urged the crowd of 600 people or so to “go out and use your positive energy to change the world.”
“Is this going to be just another march, another rally?” she asked the rally participants. “You’re all here because you want to make a difference. You have the power ... Be the change you want to see happen.”
“Don’t just march in the streets and hold up impassioned and cleverly written signs,” Frederick said, asking protesters to “do your part to actively participate to make this a better place” and volunteer for local organizations. “There are so many opportunities out there for you to effectuate change.”
Downtown rally includes music, dancing, moment of silence
At one point, the rally paused for a dance break to Pharrell Williams’ “Happy,” causing the crowd to erupt in cheers. Drones buzzed overhead.
Protesters filled the streets, even standing in barricades at Monterey Street and on the steps of the shopping center at the corner.
The demonstrators observed an eight-minute, 46-second moment of silence to remember Floyd’s life.
Rev. Stephen Vines, president of SLO County’s NAACP chapter, said the organization will host a rally at the courthouse every month until the election.
“We’re gonna rock this county,” Vines said. “We’re gonna rock California. And we’re gonna rock the world.”
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 5:26 PM.
