Peaceful marches for racial justice take to the streets of Bradenton and Palmetto
Two marches took to the streets of Bradenton and Palmetto on Sunday and continued demands for police reform that have echoed around the nation in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
Though the groups had different organizers with different approaches to seeking racial justice, both called for immediate change.
A march with the mission statement “one love, one nation, one heart,” was co-organized by Xtavia Bailey, a local business owner and the president of Manatee Tiger Bay Club.
“We don’t want to be reactive anymore,” Bailey said. “We want to make sure that policies are changed. We can’t just speak and walk and protest. Now it’s time to get on some boards, talk about policy — work with the people in our community, our leaders, the chiefs, the mayors, to make sure that everybody is being treated equally.”
At the start of the event, several government officials, including Bradenton Police Chief Melanie Bevan, were invited to speak.
“I see your signs, I’m reading your messages, and I hear you. As good as I think the Bradenton Police Department is, we can do better,” Bevin said to applause from the crowd.
Bevin said the department has been in talks with community leaders about policing improvements over the past week.
Bradenton Mayor Wayne Poston and city council members Bill Sanders and Gene Brown also spoke, as well as Manatee County Commissioner Reggie Bellamy.
“Mentally, a knee has been on my back for my entire life,” Bellamy said. “And now is the time for change.”
The police chief and several officers, who Bevan called ambassadors, participated in the march.
“We were just chatting about how we could get the community together,” said Shantel Norman, another organizer of the event and a member of local reggae band Jah Movement. “We wanted to do something peaceful that brings unity and love.”
Bailey has been working with officials and law enforcement on possible avenues for reform. The night before the march, she moderated a panel discussion with local law enforcement leaders, Pastor Jessie Smalley of First Community Church of Palmetto and local attorney Jim Delgado that aired on Manatee Educational Television.
“I’ve already had people reaching out to us about legislation,” Bailey said.
The “One Love” march, promoted as a family-friendly and positive event, drew several hundred participants, who walked over the Green Bridge. At the top, the procession came to a halt and knelt in silence in memory of George Floyd. The march then proceeded to Sutton Park in Palmetto for more community talks and music from Jah Movement.
Another march on Sunday was organized by the Black Lives Matter Manasota Alliance. The group, which has been active in the area for years, has held numerous marches since the death of George Floyd.
Jovian Battis, a 24-year-old who has been marching with the BLM chapter over the past week, said recent events caused a revelation that has inspired him to get politically active.
“I can actually do something about this,” Battis said.
Arthur Huggins, a local pastor who marched with the BLM chapter along with about 50 others on Sunday, disagreed that it was necessary to give officials a platform, adding that he had tried that approach before.
“To me, that’s not a protest,” Huggins said. “That’s a festival, what they’re doing.”
“The oppressor never, ever just gave liberty back to the people,” Huggins said. “It had to be demanded. What they’re doing is pacifying the oppressor. Demand what they should do rather than ask what they will do.”
Similar debates have played out among movement organizers across the nation as law enforcement and officials have sought to engage and participate with protests.
While some have commended actions such as police kneeling with protesters, others have asked whether a photo op is standing in for real and meaningful change.
Still waiting for police reform
Huggins said that no policies have changed and police-involved deaths of unarmed black men have continued in the community since he last attempted to start a dialogue with law enforcement.
One case he cited was that of Justin Stackhouse, a Bradenton man who was fatally shot by a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputy during a traffic stop earlier this year.
Stackhouse was not armed, but the sheriff’s office said that he drove his car in reverse at a deputy and prompted the use of lethal force.
The deputies involved in the incident did not have dashboard cameras, according to the sheriff’s office, which left the community with only law enforcement’s word about what happened.
Despite mistrust, the willingness of some in local government and law enforcement to meet with protesters on the street and recognize a need for change has differed from state and federal officials that decline to address a widespread problem in policing.
“I think there’s racism in the United States still but I don’t think that the law enforcement system is systemically racist,” Attorney General William Barr said in a CBS “Face the Nation” interview that aired on Sunday. “I understand the-the distrust, however, of the African-American community given the history in this country.”
Barr also said that reform “is working” and has been “since the 1960s.” But when asked if law enforcement immunity should be reduced to allow problem officers to be held accountable, Barr said it was not needed.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, while condemning the officers responsible for George Floyd’s death, has not publicly responded to state lawmaker Randolph Bracy’s request for a special session regarding police reform. The governor did however take the time to issue a statement opposing “violence, rioting and looting,” and in a recent press conference highlighted arrests and violent incidents and outlined law enforcement and military preparations around the state.
In a press release last week, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan said he has been in discussion with black leaders about requiring body cameras for police, discontinuing the use of neck restraints and the needed for better communication between police and residents.
At a press conference in Sarasota on Wednesday, the Black Lives Matter chapter presented a list of demands for police reform. It included reallocating local police funding to education and health care initiatives, terminating officers involved in uses of deadly force and creating citizens’ review boards to oversee the Manatee and Sarasota sheriff departments.
Protests meet in Palmetto
As the “One Love” event hosted guest speakers at Sutton Park, the Black Lives Matter march arrived and approached the stage, nearly drowning out the event with chants.
The meeting of the two marches became briefly tense, but a moment of solidarity came when members of both protests knelt together in a moment of silence for George Floyd.
After leaders of both groups spoke intently with each other for several minutes, Huggins was invited on stage to address the crowd with “One Love” organizer Joe Morris at his side.
“I was upset that this was a platform that was set up for officials rather than for black leaders who have been on the ground since day one,“ Huggins said. “Everybody out here, I know you mean well. Understand that we’re sick and tired. If we don’t continue to put pressure on this county about what they’re doing, and learn how do it holistically, without undermining black leaders ... woe be unto us.”
After speaking onstage, Huggins said, “There definitely need to be more conversations.”
After the exchange between the two groups, Bailey noted that there was room in the community for more than one voice and drew a historical comparison to different approaches of demanding racial justice.
“You had Malcom X and you had Martin Luther King,” Bailey said.
Even as the groups walked separately from one another Sunday, a common refrain rang through the ranks of both marches:
“No justice, no peace.”
On the stage at Sutton Park, Huggins and Morris again repeated the rallying cry together as the crowd joined in.
This story was originally published June 8, 2020 at 8:13 AM.