Moscow held its second Black Lives Matter event this week on Friday. Protesters began in the Rosauers Supermaket parking lot and marched to Mod Pizza, Friendship Square and back while chanting.
The Facebook page for the Peaceful Black Lives Matter Protest said “We need to continue to share the message of solidarity and unity. On behalf of Breonna Taylor, we must change. On behalf of Ahmaud Arbery, we must advance. On behalf of George Floyd and the hundreds of others who have been unjustly murdered in this country, we must evolve.”
The Peaceful Black Lives Matter Protest is one demonstration among a series of protests across the United States sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Chauvin was captured on camera leaning his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds while Floyd, a Black man, laid on the ground repeating “I can’t breathe” until he became unresponsive. Chauvin and the three officers that stood by when Floyd died have been fired and charged.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The officers, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane and Tou Thao, are each charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
Jessica Nygaard, the organizer of today’s protest, said the event was inspired by her friends Kelli and Trina Peck as well as her Philippine background. She said she attended Wednesday’s vigil.
“Going to the protest on Wednesday definitely gave me some inspiration as to knowing there are good people out here who are supporting this because Moscow is a really small city,” Nygaard said.
Latah County Sheriff Richard Skiles, Moscow Police Department Chief James Fry and a few other officers checked in on the protest periodically but did not stay for the duration.
Many people at the protest wore masks to help prevent COVID-19 from spreading. The officers did not wear masks but kept their distance while watching the protest.
The protesters gathered along the sidewalk at the intersection of D and Main Streets while holding up signs and chanting as traffic passed. Some signs read “No justice, no peace,” “Silence is violence,” “Black lives matter,” and “Honk for justice.”
Nygaard held a sign which read “Color is not crime!! Black lives matter!”
“I mean, I feel like there is a lot I could say about it. There is no reason at all to judge anybody based on the color of their skin,” Nygaard said. “Any of us are capable of everything. We are all equal. We can do things. Everybody can get jobs. There is no need for judgement and I think it’s clearly something important. This is a super big race issue.”
The protesters marched their way to Friendship Square where they stopped to chant and have a moment of silence in honor of Floyd. They held that moment for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the same amount of time Floyd was under Chauvin’s knee.
Rochelle Smith, a librarian at the University of Idaho, marched with the protesters.
“I wanted to support all these really young people, a lot of whom are coming from Potlatch, which is not a very diverse town. I think they probably got some pushback but they are still out and they are brave,” Smith said.
Smith marched against apartheid while she was in college and said she thought it was amazing South Africa is talking to the U.S. about how to do truth and reconciliation. This is in reference to Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, speaking on ‘naked racism in the United States’ and the ‘heinous murder’ of George Floyd.
After the protesters walked back to Rosauers’ parking lot, Karen Hansen, a woman from outside the protest, began handing out packets which contained information and comments about why masks are important during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also gave the participants one box of single-use masks.
“Yes, the risk is low, but the measures we need to take are so easy to reduce the spread. Stakes are high to reopen this economy and we need to do it right. Yes, black lives matter, but so do the elderly and the medically vulnerable,” Hansen said.
After speaking to the protesters about why they should be wearing masks, she turned her attention to a young man waving an upside down flag.
The conversation remained peaceful.
“I asked them to consider flying the flag right side up because I understand extreme distress but at the same time the extreme right wing is claiming the title of patriotism,” Hansen said.
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5