Technician Photo Staff
Protesters raise their arms up in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement on Monday, June 1, 2020 in downtown Raleigh. These protests were held in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. After a weekend of violent riots the mayor of Raleigh, Mary-Ann Baldwin issued a city wide curfew until further notice that starts at 8 P.M. and runs through 5 A.M. the next morning. Raleigh has also requested for the National Guard to be present around the city to help in keeping the peace. The protest on June 1 was completely peaceful through its entirety.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to accurately reflect the number of protestors present, and for clarity
On Monday, June 1, just before 5 p.m. over 200 protesters gathered at the base of NC State’s Belltower to march to downtown Raleigh peacefully, demanding justice for those killed by police and an end to police brutality toward Black Americans. The protesters staged a sit-in in front of the governor’s mansion, even drawing a short appearance from Gov. Roy Cooper, before peacefully marching back to the Belltower, dispersing just before the city-wide 8 p.m. curfew.
The Monday demonstration is the fourth consecutive day of protests in Raleigh after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a fired police officer in Minneapolis. His death has caused outrage throughout the country and protests demanding justice have been held in all 50 states.
Andrea Holland, a fourth-year studying Spanish and history who participated in the march, said she found the protest to be very emotional.
“I was angry about the current situations about how Black Americans were being treated before I attended the protest and I left even more angry,” Holland said.
Braedon Oliver, one of the protest organizers, said the entire protest was organized using word of mouth and did not rely on social media.
“There are a lot of different people that are very angry, very galvanized right now,” one protest organizer, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “They want to get together and make change happen and get groups of people together that are like-minded and spread awareness. What we are trying to do now is get really united. We want to find a way to unite groups from one city to the next city. We want these protests to not just happen in isolated incidents, but to happen across the board. Change has to happen. Change can’t happen in a vacuum. It has to be worldwide.”
Before the march began, and at each of its stops, organizers reminded those present that the protest was peaceful and any protesters there to vandalize or cause violence needed to leave.
Throughout the march, protesters held signs and chanted. Some of the protestors’ chants included, “What do we want? ‘Justice’. When do we want it? ‘Now’. If we don’t get it? ‘Shut it down,’” “Black lives matter,” “I can’t breathe,” and the names of those murdered because of police brutality in 2020.
“We are getting together to talk about being united and understanding exactly what it is that we want to say because the fact of the matter is, we have their attention,” the unnamed organizer said.
While the majority of the march took place off of NC State’s campus, Dan House, the chief of campus police, addressed the gathering protesters prior to them starting to march from the Belltower.
“We wanted to emphasize people’s First Amendment right, for them to be able to speak and protest,” House said after the protesters left the Belltower. “We thought that was important. We also wanted to lay some ground rules… they came out, were very respectful to law enforcement and we worked together. It went really well.”
Once the protesters went downtown, police on motorcycles went ahead of the protesters blocking off traffic at intersections and allowing the protestors to continue to march unimpeded.
At the first stop along the march protesters sat outside the Capitol building, blocking the intersection of Hillsborough Street and South Salisbury Street. While sitting, organizers emphasized the importance of the protests being peaceful. After the organizers, others spoke, including multiple clergy members of different faiths.
Surrounding the Capitol building was a line of both police and the National Guard; however, there was no interaction between them and the protesters.
From there, the protesters moved on to the governor’s mansion where they again sat and heard members of the protest speak. While outside the governor’s mansion, the protesters remained silent for nine minutes, representing the nearly nine minutes police officers asphyxiated George Floyd.
As the protesters stood and got into formation to march back to the Belltower, Gov. Roy Cooper emerged from his mansion, walking down the line of protesters before heading back inside the gate. As he went by, protesters chanted “March with us.” Oliver, who was one of the protesters who approached Cooper, stated the governor said, “I hear you.” Others felt the governor’s appearance was lacking.
“A lot of the large mainstream media isn’t reporting the truth on what’s going on… I went home and I saw an article saying that Roy Cooper walked and marched with the people and that was not the truth,” Holland said.” He was out there for one picture and he did not walk with us, he ignored us.”
After the sit-in at the governor’s mansion, the protesters headed back toward the Belltower, again with police on motorcycles blocking traffic to allow the protestors to pass easily. On two separate occasions, cars attempted to pull into the lanes being marched in by protesters but the police quickly turned them away.
Once the protesters were back at the Belltower, the crowd quickly and peacefully dispersed as the 8 p.m. curfew was quickly approaching. The police blocked the traffic circle in front of the Belltower and a few spoke with protesters.
There were a number of NC State students and alumni who participated in the march. Though the bulk of the march took place off campus, it was important for past and present students marching that the Belltower was the starting point and the NC State community was coming together for the protest.
“My activism started when I had a nervous breakdown a little while ago, just feeling all of the pressure from society,” the unnamed organizer said. “Just knowing that if I throw myself into something, if I believe in something that is worth fighting for, other people will show up, especially the community where I used to call home.”
If you are interested in contributing to and educating yourself on the Black Lives Matter movement, read Nubian Message’s resource list to get involved.