Demonstrators say they’ll continue ‘as long as it takes’
The Black Lives Matter protest that has been going on for more than a week in Columbia took it a step further by blocking U.S. 98 Saturday night.
The protestors stopped traffic on the highway by taking a knee in solidarity for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the same amount of time that Derek Chauvin, a former police officer in Minneapolis, kept his knee on George Floyd's neck while Floyd pleaded for his life on May 25. Chauvin was fired by the department and has been charged with second-degree murder and other charges in Floyd’s death, which has set off large-scale protests throughout the United States.
After members of the Columbia Police Department arrived Saturday night, the road was reopened for vehicles. Members of the protest then stood in the median and along the westbound lane of U.S. 98 for several hours.
One of the leaders of the protest, Aric Newson, said Monday a guy pulled a gun on two of the protesters and pointed it in their face during the protest Saturday. He said there were several people yelling obscenities to them, others giving them mean looks and speeding through and some even drove into the ditch to go around them to avoid looking at them. He added there were a lot of false rumors being spread about how they were protesting.
“A lot of people said we were jumping on our cars and stuff, which is not true. They said we had kids out there on leashes like animals. Then we had people talking about how they would like to run us over and stuff,” he said. “Social media was lit up with it all Saturday night.”
While there were people against the protest, Newson noted that there was also a lot of support with people honking their horns and stopping to share kind words.
While members of the movement were protesting along the highway, a handful also made a round at the Columbia Gearheads Cruise-In downtown Saturday afternoon. However, the protesters did not stay at the event after making the round, and there was no trouble.
As Saturday night progressed, Columbia Police Chief Michael Kelly arrived on scene to talk to the protesters. Kelly told them Saturday if they want to block a road, a permit would have to be filed first. Throughout the night police stayed along the highway.
At a meeting on Monday, Kelly commended the officers who responded Saturday night on being able to defuse the situation. The chief stressed the protesters have a right to have a peaceful protest but cannot block the highway or any road without a permit.
“We must protect the community to be guardians and uphold the law,” he said.
Kelly warned the officers to use utmost caution.
“We do not want to be the cause of any violence,” he said.
Newson said the protesters have a simple goal: bring everyone together.
“We want to make things better for us going forward,” he said. “Things have been bad, so we’re just trying to make things better and galvanize the community. If this is going to be one community, we need everyone to be part of it. You can’t have togetherness with everyone separated and scattered.”
Columbia and Marion County has a lot of work left to do to accomplish that goal, according to Newson.
“We saw a lot of that Saturday,” he said. “There’s still a lot of underground hate here, a whole bunch of it. A lot of that needs to be addressed and brought forward.”
Newson said the police department and local government have assured protesters they want to bring about change as well. He added Kelly has told them police are currently working on increasing their training time and having mental evaluations before making hires.
The group plans to keep protesting for as long as it takes, Newson said. He added that even when the protests do stop, they will continue to work to improve the community and are trying to establish leaders from every neighborhood.
Protesters on Monday continued their peaceful demonstrations on the corner of Broad Street and High School Avenue, where they have been for much of the past week.
Pictured Above: Black Lives Matter protesters line the median of U.S. 98 on Saturday. Earlier they had blocked the highway for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time a Minneapolis police officer kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck on May 25, which prompted nationwide protests. | Photo by Susan Amundson
