Black Lives Matter Leads Marching Protest
ZANESVILLE, Ohio- Local activists Melissa Dickinson and Kyle Johnson organized a march that started in Zanes Landing and ended at the courthouse. The protest was a direct response to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a disgraced police officer.
The protest featured poetry readings from Johnson, speeches by he, Dickinson and Mayor Don Mason, as well as a moment of silence to all those who have lost their lives to police brutality and race based violence.
The protest was attended by hundreds of citizens from all races and went its entire two and a half hour runtime without incident.
Dickinson says that she was pleased with the turnout and not surprised by the absolute absence of violence.
“I am very satisfied with how things went, however, I was also very confident in how things were gonna go today. I was not worried, not one bit, that it wouldn’t turn violent. “
Dickinson also stated that seeing such a large crowd gave her hope and gave credit to her family for sparking her activism.
“My theory is speak it into existence. I was confident that we was gonna have quite a few people, however I did call, ‘is anybody there? How many people’s there?’. But you know I was sure that the numbers would be up there… Because I have sons. I have black sons. I don’t ever want them to experience what other people do. It’s never been severe what they’re experienced but they have experienced some things. I don’t like the way it makes me feel, and i know that they don’t like the way it makes them feel.”
Johnson lays his blame for police brutality partially on an unnatural divide between officers and citizens.
“We shouldn’t be strangers with our police department. I shouldn’t have a relationship with the police department because he’s pulling up on the block. I shouldn’t be familiar with their faces because I see them do a stop and frisk on the side of the road. I should know them. That’s the problem, there’s no relationship, we’re strangers in our own town.”, Johnson said to reporters.
Johnson stressed on numerous occasions during the protest that violence was not the answer and that the answer can only be found through continued activism. Johnson started a local organization to combat poverty called Zanesville Think Tank Poverty. They will have a zoom meeting on the evening of Sunday May, 31st. More information can be found on their Facebook page.
