By Yuchabel Sanon
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
WASHINGTON—Demonstrators gathered on Black Lives Matter Plaza Friday afternoon to protest against what they say is the mistreatment of Black women in America.
The protest was organized in response to a Kentucky grand jury’s decision last month not to bring homicide charges against any of the three officers who fatally shot Breonna Taylor in her own apartment during a raid last March.
One of the officers, Sgt. Brett Hankson, was fired and faces three counts of wanton endangerment.
Topazz McBride, 47, one of the committee members who organized the protest, said Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, as a Black man, failed his community and disrespected Taylor and her family by suggesting after the grand jury’s decision that justice has been served. She said America is in a state of immortality, and the world is watching.
“Protect Black women. Respect Black women. Honor Black women,” McBride said. “Because this is our time and that’s why we are here today. This is our time.”
More than 500 people registered for the protest, but only about 100 attended.
Stephany Spaulding, 41, a professor of women’s and ethnic studies at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, said the protest is reflective of how people disregard the lives of Black women. She predicted that there would be more people at Saturday’s generic White women rally than one that has to deal with issues that affect Black women.
Chloe Erwin, 17, a student from Syracuse, New York, said she would have liked to see more white people at the protest. She has been to many and still comes because she wants to be a good ally and do what she can to support the cause. She said that people should not come because it is a trend but because the system is not working.
“My sign says, ‘White silence is violence’ and that’s true,” Erwin said. “Compliance is going to be the root of all evil here if White people do not speak up.”
Hanna Bessette, 20, a student at Howard University, said she has recently been a victim of police brutality. In a protest earlier in the year she said she was grabbed and pulled by a police officer after questioning him on why she couldn’t stand on public property. That incident did not stop her from coming out today and supporting the movement.
“I’m a Black woman and I do the same thing today that I do every single day, which is show up,” Bessette said. “And I think that’s the thing with Black women is that we will always show up, for ourselves, for each other, for people that don’t look like us, [and] that don’t live like us.”
Even though the turnout was not as big as expected, and the stage and DJ never arrived, the protest and rally still went smoothly. Marchers started at Black Lives Matter Plaza and ended at the Martin Luther King Memorial. Through the march slogans were yelled and songs were sung.
Once they arrived at the MLK Memorial, demonstrators formed a peace circle, prayed, sung the Black National Anthem, and danced. Several people gave brief speeches while others shared testimonials.
Donita Graham, 29, a mother and wife, brought her three girls and husband to rally with her. She said as a Black woman with Black girls it was important to have them be involved and to stand together with other Black women.
Police said there were no arrests or disruptions.