Racial justice demonstrations remain peaceful Tuesday in Olympia
Hundreds gathered peacefully at Heritage Park in Olympia on Tuesday, the largest such gathering this week in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.
His death has sparked protests throughout the country, including a number of protests in Olympia since Saturday night.
People lined Fourth and Fifth avenues near Heritage Park, holding signs and attracting the honks of passing vehicles. The rally, “A change has got to come,” was organized by Olympia SURJ (which stands for Showing Up for Racial Justice), and the Washington Community Action Network. No police attended the rally.
After most people lined the streets, they turned their attention to public speakers, who had set up near the Heritage Park fountain and spoke for about 90 minutes. Organizers sought to elevate the voices of people of color, calling on black people to form the center of the circle, followed by a second ring made up of non-black people of color, followed by white people in the outer ring.
Organizer Ty Brown of Washington CAN praised the gathering.
“This is beautiful,” he said. “There are so many people coming together in the name of unity and community.”
But it’s also been a hard week for him personally, said Brown, who is black.
He said he refused to watch the video of Floyd die because he has seen it so many times before. “It’s not the first time, and it’s not the last time, another brother will die at the hands of a police officer.”
He called for an end to white supremacy, saying people need to continue to show up against injustice every day.
Speaker, ShaMarica Scott of Tacoma, a black woman who recently graduated from The Evergreen State College, said after her speech that she was impressed with the size of the audience.
“This is unity,” she said. “This is what it looks like, and it needs to be like this all the time.”
During her speech, she emphasized the importance of awareness, repeatedly telling the audience, “knew better, do better.”
She said she believes Olympia is ready to make a change. “I want to see equity,” Scott said
Olympia Mayor Cheryl Selby attended, along with Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder and Congressman Denny Heck.
Selby said she was there to stand in solidarity with black community members.
“I’m so grateful for this event,” she said. “It’s about peace and building a better community, and I want to support that.”
Earlier in the day, Mayor Selby, the city’s police chief and others met to discuss the possibility of enacting a curfew for the city after protests turned violent Sunday and Monday night.
The curfew is still under consideration, but Selby said she can’t make that decision unilaterally. It would require City Council approval directing the city manager to take that step, she said.
City Manager Jay Burney issued a statement Tuesday, saying the city does not want to impose a curfew, but also acknowledged that the protests have been hard on the city.
“This is taking a toll on our employees,” he said in his statement. “This is taking a toll on fragile downtown businesses, still trying to come back from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Selby said during the rally police have justly been “under a microscope,” but they also have her full support.
“They have been doing an incredible job under a lot of stress and on top of a pandemic,” she said.
About the rally, she added:
“I hope this is the energy that takes us forward,” she said. “We need all these people to be engaged to rebuild our community and build a more equitable society.”
As the rally neared its close Tuesday evening, the hundreds who gathered kneeled to observe an eight-minute moment of silence. George Floyd died after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, according to news accounts citing a criminal complaint against the officer.
An organizer encouraged rally participants to leave the event via Fourth Avenue, saying “We’re here in the name of unity and community, and to keep each other safe,” adding that some people don’t share those goals and to look out for those people.
Many did filter out, but a few hundred stayed in the downtown area for hours following the official event’s close.
A group of more than 100 marched to the steps of the state Legislative Building and briefly demonstrated there before marching back downtown to Olympia City Hall, chanting calls for racial justice and an end to police brutality, such as “Black Lives Matter” “What was his name? George Floyd. What did he say? ‘I can’t breathe’” and “Hands up, don’t shoot.”
City Hall, where the Olympia Police Department is based, has served as the focal point of recent demonstrations. The rousing speeches and chants continued Tuesday night, with many expressions of anger and frustration and reminders to keep the protest peaceful.
Another group arrived and doubled the City Hall crowd’s size. When someone started playing music, the event turned into a dance party, featuring songs such as “Cupid Shuffle” and 2Pac’s “Changes.”
By 9:30 p.m., the crowd was chanting and marching back to the Capitol Campus, where they stayed and demonstrated for about an hour.
“A badge is not a license to kill,” went one of the chants.
Law enforcement officers were visible near the Governor’s Mansion, which attracted the attention of some protesters and prompted chants of “Take off your riot gear, there are no riots here” and calls for the officers to kneel and march with the group. In one instance, there were loud bangs from near the door to the Legislative Building, but the crowd quickly shut that down with boos and chants of “peaceful protest.”
By 10:45 p.m., many had left and a smaller group marched back to City Hall via Capitol Way South. By about 11 p.m., about 30-50 people were still gathered there. Olympia Police Lt. Paul Lower told The Olympian the night ended about 1 a.m.
The Legislative Building and a coffee shop downtown were tagged with graffiti Tuesday night, Lower said, but for the most part it seemed the group was self-policing. He said officers simply provided traffic control.
“That was a really well-organized, peaceful group,” Lower said, “And we appreciate that.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 8:58 PM.
