Moscow community members and students from the University of Idaho and Washington State University congregated for a Black Lives Matter demonstration in downtown Moscow Sunday.
The group met in Friendship Square. Across the street from them, 13 other Moscow and Pullman community members gathered for a counter-demonstration.
Nick Eastman-Pratt | Argonaut
Black Lives Matter protesters assemble in Friendship Square to share poetry, stories and support for members of the black community who are subject to prejudice.
Police kept an active presence on the scene to encourage peaceful relations during the demonstration.
“This is America, and it’s our constitutional right to be able to have rallies to discuss the issues that are going on in our country, and I think it’s important that everyone has their time to voice what is going on,” said Moscow Chief of Police James Fry.
Fry said he and other officers of the Moscow Police Department (MPD) encourage citizens to voice their opinions and have important conversations.
“I am standing up for myself and my family,” said UI junior Jessy Forsmo-Shadid. “We’re all human. It’s time that we are treated as such.”
The purpose of the Black Lives Matter movement and the subsequent rallies are not intended to only discuss black lives, Forsmo-Shadid said. The intention is to protest for all communities.
Change is easier to see when people congregate and peacefully demonstrate, Forsmo-Shadid said.
“You can really see who is with you,” Forsmo-Shadid said. “You can visibly see there are so many people who support the cause. There are so many people who are willing to fight, not only for black lives, but many lives.”
Across the way from the peaceful Black Lives Matter rally, community members supporting the police and Republican nominee Donald Trump responded with their own peaceful demonstration. They waved black and blue American flags and wore Trump shirts, holding signs that said, “All lives matter,” and “Blue lives matter.”
Nick Eastman-Pratt | Argonaut
Black Lives Matter protesters assemble in Friendship Square, met by counter protesters bearing Trump flags, and Blue Lives Matter posters.
Fry said the police try to step out and form relationships with others so people can understand why they do what they do.
Kenetta Nunn, a demonstrator at the Black Lives Matter rally, said being black and from the south, she has seen a lot of violence and discrimination against black people.
“It’s becoming more out in the open because people are actually streaming it,” Nunn said. “It’s time at some point for everyone to come together and put a stop to it.”
Nunn said she heard about the rally on Facebook. Technology has allowed these events and this movement to be highlighted, she said.
“Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere,” said Matthew Sutherland, a speaker at the Black Lives Matter rally. “The people that are getting the short end of the stick need to at some point be lifted up and I would love to see that happen in my lifetime, and I am hoping to fight for that.”
Kevin Neighbors
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