APPLETON - The demonstration against police brutality Saturday at Houdini Plaza was part protest, part community drive, part "Black Lives Matter block party."
Saturday's event was a way to give back to the community that has supported the Black Lives Matter movement in the Fox Valley, organizers said.
People still showed up with their homemade signs, holding them up along College Avenue and Appleton Street so passing cars could read them. But there was also a cookout with food, snacks and drinks for protesters and a donation drive for those in need. People donated piles of clothes and shoes, toiletries, food and school supplies that were available for anyone to take.
Ray Wright, one of the organizers, described Saturday's event as a "Black Lives Matter block party" and at times, it definitely felt more like a party than a protest. The scent of grilling hot dogs and hamburgers wafted through the plaza as people talked, jumped rope and danced together.
Appleton police officers were present, but stuck to the edge of the crowd, watching and chatting with people. At one point, Appleton police sergeants Mark Moderson and Tony Rosetti danced to the "Cha Cha Slide" with the crowd.
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"We are coming together," Wright said. "It don't matter what you do here as long as it's peaceful and for the people. No selfish agendas over here, it's all love for everyone."
Although the event had a different feel from last week's protest – where more than 1,000 people marched along College Avenue, demanding justice and accountability for the deaths of George Floyd and other black people killed by police – the message was the same: People need to come together and let their voices be heard to make change possible.
Speaking to a crowd of around 500 people, Brooklyn Williams, a 13-year-old from Oshkosh, said she's grown up being discriminated against for being black.
She asked the crowd if anyone has ever walked into a store, saw a group of African Americans and felt unsafe.
Some people in the crowd raised their hand.
Then she said, "Raise your hand if now you don't feel that way" and many more hands went up in the air.
She thanked those gathered for coming, for being willing to listen, open their minds and educate themselves.
"It's very overwhelming knowing that such a big community of people are all here for the same reason and we all just want everything to be equal and we don't want to be treated differently," Williams said, emotion clear in her voice.
Hilliary and Steven Wolff brought their children, Henry, 7, and Oswin, 5, to the protest. Hilliary said that even though it's difficult to talk to her children about what's going on in the world, she wants to teach her children that black lives are just as important as anyone else's.
"The reality is, black children their age have to live with these realities and be afraid too," Hilliary said. "We know it's a hard thing to talk about, but it's a very important thing to talk about."
Henry and Oswin brought signs, written in marker on pieces of cardboard, that said "Protesting is important" and "Black lives matter."
"Protesting is important, and that's what my sign says," Oswin said.
Protests and marches have been happening across the country in the last two weeks after George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed by Minneapolis police officers. He was arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill at a grocery store. Former officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes while Floyd was lying on his stomach, hands cuffed behind his back.
Chauvin and the three other officers involved in Floyd's arrest have been fired and charged in connection with his death.
Some protests across the country and in Wisconsin have turned violent, but protests in Appleton have been peaceful.
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Contact Natalie Brophy at (715) 216-5452 or nbrophy@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @brophy_natalie.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiemh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnBvc3RjcmVzY2VudC5jb20vc3RvcnkvbmV3cy8yMDIwLzA2LzA2L2FwcGxldG9uLWdlb3JnZS1mbG95ZC1wcm90ZXN0LWh1bmRyZWRzLWdhdGhlci1ob3VkaW5pLXBsYXphLzMxNTk1NzgwMDEv0gEraHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAucG9zdGNyZXNjZW50LmNvbS9hbXAvMzE1OTU3ODAwMQ?oc=5
2020-06-07 01:57:33Z
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