Thursday, protests for police shootings began as a coalition of organizations for black racial-justice met in over a dozen cities across America. The various organizations met in a series of coordinated demonstrations specifically to protest police shootings.
Washington saw the Movement for Black Lives as one of the earliest protests. A small, largely white crowd, gathered near the Office of Police Complaints with signs that read “Black Lives Matter”, among other messages.
The protests for police shootings saw the majority of those gathered with Showing Up for Racial Justice, which is an organization that encourages white people to join causes based on social justice issues, including those related to racial tensions in America.
Sean Blackmon, from the Stop Police Terror Project, spoke to the crowd, both thanking them for coming out and insisted on becoming comrades. “Black people don’t have a monopoly on suffering,” he told the crowd. “Black people don’t have a monopoly on being killed by police.”
The series of protests of police shootings were called Freedom Now and were organized before the most recent shooting. The shooting took place in North Miami, Florida, on Wednesday, when a police officer wounded a black therapist who had been trying to help an autistic patient. The man was on the ground with his hands up.
The protests also come in the wake of recent shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota. These events have done plenty to stir growing racial tensions, as well as incidents where police officers have been ambushed in Louisiana and Texas.
Other cities, including: Chicago, Chattanooga, Tenn, Oakland, Calif, St. Louis and Detroit are also planning lunches, meetings, marches and demonstrations during the day.
By about 9 a.m, nearly all the demonstrators had left their various areas, peacefully and quietly, allowing people to walk freely by without any issue.
