Hours after an Independence Day celebration in downtown Hillsborough, Black Lives Matter activists gathered at the same location to call for equality and police reform.
“No one wants to do this,” Event organizer Del Ward said. “We don’t want to be out here.”
Saturday’s protest in Hillsborough was one of hundreds that have popped up across the globe since the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day. Video surfaced on social media showing Floyd saying he was unable to breath as he was pinned beneath an officer’s knee.
Minister Curtis Gatewood from the Stop Killing Us Solutions Campaign was among the first to speak at the event, calling for people to recognize that Black citizens were being murdered by “domestic terrorists.”
“You don’t have to point your finger overseas to ISIS,” Gatewood said. “You don’t have to point your finger over in Afghanistan to Al Qaeda or the Taliban. We are being murdered by home-grown terrorists right here in America and it’s time to stop.”
Protesters hold up a large sign reading “Stop Killing Us” on Saturday, July 4 in Hillsborough. (Dakota Moyer/Chapelboro.com)
At the event, protesters called for justice in the deaths of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.
Taylor was fatally shot by Louisville police officers in March while she slept. One of the officers involved in her shooting was fired. Arbery was killed by armed White residents of a George neighborhood while jogging in February. Three men have been charged in his death.
“The purpose of our stance has been to stand against White supremacist terrorists,” Gatewood said, “to bring and end to the type of terrorism that is infiltrating law enforcement across the nation, which leads police officers to believe that they can publicly lynch black men and women, men such as George Floyd, and wrongfully killed countless other Black and Brown people right here on the soil of America.”
Patricia Clayton, president of the Northern Orange County NACCP, called for those in attendance to make their voices heard through voting.
“I want to encourage you to vote,” she said. “Don’t sit at home at home and make excuses.”
Clayton said those worried about the coronavirus pandemic could request absentee ballots and, if they didn’t have transportation, she would personally drive them to the polls.
Clayton shared her experience with racism growing up in Orange County and said she was called hateful names while on the bus ride home from school. She explained how changing racism at a fundamental level begins at a young age.
“Ignorance, hatred and racism is taught. So you’ll see little children, when they go to kindergarten they don’t look at no color. They want a friend. But by the time they get to middle school, racism is frantic.”
Event organizer Del Ward speaks to the crowd at a Black Lives Matter protest on Saturday, July 4 in Hillsborough. (Dakota Moyer/Chapelboro.com)
Ward, a White man who organized Saturday’s protest, thanked the White residents in attendance.
“To the White people that came out today, thank you. Your support is vital in this fight against systemic racism in this country,” Ward said.
Ward and other speakers encouraged White residents in attendance to use their privilege to support people of color, not just during protests but in everyday life.
In addition, Ward shared his experience with protesting for the Black Lives Matter movement in Hillsborough. While standing outside with a protest sign, Ward said he has been approached by a man with an AR-15 assault rifle and has had the police called on him.
“We are constantly addressing the symptoms of racism,” Ward said. “We are never addressing the problems what’s causing these problems. A lot of you think Hillsborough is somehow absolved of racism because they haven’t shot an unarmed Black man yet. How low is the bar? How low is the bar that we’re applauding our police for not shooting someone?”
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