Teens organize BLM protest in Jones Park. Injustice is ‘going on and is continuing.’
About a dozen young people, mostly under the age of 20, stood at the edge of Jones Park on Saturday afternoon holding signs reading “Black Lives Matter: Speak out For Justice” and “History has its eyes on you.”
For hours, they chanted “No justice, no peace” and “Say their names.”
Drivers in passing cars honked in approval, or raised a fist through the passenger window, or stuck a middle finger in the air and shouted “Trump 2020!”
It was a much smaller demonstration than the marches in Gulfport and Biloxi earlier this summer that drew hundreds. For the teenagers and young adults who organized and attended, it was an opportunity to send a message that the root causes of the protests haven’t been resolved, and that people — especially young people — are still willing to stand up to call for change.
“I felt like the movement was starting to lose some attention,” said Gulfport High School senior Siriss McLaurin. “I wanted to push the narrative that this has been going on and is continuing.”
One of the organizers, Olivia Ruiz, also a senior at Gulfport High, had attended a Black Lives Matter protest at the same spot the week before. She and her girlfriend, Kellyanne Massengill, wanted to know when the next one would be. When they learned one of the protest organizers, Jonathan Curry, was only a few years older than them, they decided to plan one on their own.
For Ruiz, as for many of the protesters Saturday afternoon, George Floyd’s death had been a turning point. Floyd had pleaded that he couldn’t breathe as Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly 9 minutes.
“Just seeing older adults like saying, ‘Oh, well he was on drugs, so he would have died anyway,’” Ruiz said.
(An independent examiner hired by Floyd’s family found his cause of death to be “asphyxiation from sustained pressure.” An autopsy report by the county medical examiner found that he died of heart failure due to police restraint. It also reported small amounts of drugs in his system when he died, but did not say that was a cause of death.)
“It really struck me: this racism, this systematic racism is so ingrained in us, that this pure victim, we’re still trying to blame him for his murder,” said Ruiz, who is white.
Ruiz and Massengill they shared details of the protest every day on Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. Ruiz contacted local media, including the Sun Herald. A radio station near Hattiesburg announced the event on air.
Before Saturday, about 50 people had reached out to Ruiz and told her they would come. Far fewer actually showed up.
“I’ve seen a whole lot of people posting about it online, and I did expect them to be here,” said Gulfport High senior Logan Williams.
“I think people just take it as a social media trend,” said McLaurin. “Getting out here is harder.”
‘Too many to count’
During the three hours the protesters were standing along U.S. 90, many passersby honked their horns in approval. One woman, who had been watching her children play in the splash pad at Jones Park, walked up and said, “Keep up the good work!”
“I just wanna go thank all of these people,” Curry said, almost marveling at the support.
A man drove by in a white SUV.
“White lives matter, too, man!” he shouted.
Curry started chanting: “No justice, no peace!”
After that, the group chanted every time the red light forced cars to stop in front of them.
Olivia’s mother, Jennifer, is a school teacher with many Black students. She said she has long been conscious of limited accountability for police who shoot and kill Black young people. She followed the stories of Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice.
“I thought, that’s something my students would do,” she said of one case.
Saturday’s event was her first Black Lives Matter demonstration. She was excited to support her daughter’s organizing, she said.
“Somehow, Olivia got her strength to speak up at a younger age than I did,” Jennifer Ruiz said. “It took me a long time.”
‘What are you protesting?’
A man on a motorcycle pulled over with a question for the protesters. He wore a vest emblazoned with the logo of the Patriot Guard Riders, a group that attends funerals for fallen military members. The vest had a III% patch, indicating support for the Three Percenters, an anti-government right-wing extremist group.
“What are you protesting?” he asked.
“Police brutality,” Olivia answered.
“All those guys are criminals,” he responded.
“Atatiana Jefferson was sitting on her couch... ” Ruiz started to say. She was trying to explain what happened to the Texas woman who was shot and killed by police in October 2019 after she stayed up late playing video games with her nephew, and a neighbor called 911 to report her home’s door was open.
“George Floyd overdosed,” the man said. (The county medical examiner’s report that indicated methamphetamine, fentanyl and THC were in Floyd’s system when he died did not say that he overdosed; the amounts indicated he had last used them hours, or up to a day, before his death.)
“The oppressor put his neck on his knee and he died,” Curry shouted.
Ruiz tried again to explain what had happened to Jefferson.
“Thomas Jefferson?” the man said.
“She was sitting on her couch...”
“There was a no-knock warrant for her arrest,” the man said. He seemed to be referring to the no-knock search warrant Louisville police had to search the apartment of Breonna Taylor, not to arrest her. Police killed Taylor in March.
“That’s the wrong person,” Ruiz told him.
After a few moments, the man on the bike drove away.
“Trump’s gonna win,” he shouted. “Trump 2020!”
Afterwards, Olivia’s hands shook as she held her sign. Jennifer told her she was proud of her for staying calm and trying to share her information.
NaKisha Williams, a friend of Jennifer’s, came to the protest to support the teenagers. She and her 9-year-old son wore T-shirts that said, “Please, I can’t breathe,” some of George Floyd’s last words as Chauvin knelt on his neck.
It was her first time attending a Black Lives Matter protest in Mississippi.
“I’ve been aware of the issues since I was old enough to read about Emmett Till,” she said. “But I think everyone is now waking up.”
