In response to the shootings of two black men by police in the United States this week, there were two vigils in downtown Raleigh to honor and remember their lives, as well as others who have died under similar circumstances. On Thursday, July 7, about 50 people gathered outside the Wake County Courthouse on Fayetteville Street for a time of healing through faith and prayer. The following evening, Friday, July 8, more than 200 people attended the Vigil for Justice in Policing in Moore Square.
Thursday evening
The vigil on Thursday evening was announced just a few hours before its start at 7 p.m. Although this vigil was short notice and the weather called for rain, a crowd of parents, veterans, community organizers, church leaders and more gathered in front of the courthouse to stand and pray together.
Rev. Curtis Gatewood, field and branch director of the NC chapter of NAACP and one of the main speakers of the event, began the vigil with a prayer and said gatherings like this are “important because sometimes people need to come together and understand that we’re not in this alone.”
Due to rain beginning 30 minutes after the start of the vigil, Andrea Richardson, founder and chief operating officer of The NuSol Natural Hair and Beauty Expo and organizer of the event, led the attendees across the street of the courthouse to a canopied area.
“We’re going to get a little wet, but we’re all right,” Richardson said.
As the group of attendees circled and reformed, they sang the song, “Ain’t Gonna Let No Sheriff Turn Me Around,” together. Shortly after, Richardson stood in the middle with a megaphone and challenged the attendees to call on their God and to “move with a sense of urgency.”
“We got to ask God to move, we got to ask him for revival,” Richardson said. “You cannot tell me God cannot move because He answers.”
An attendee of the event, Antonio Terrill, who is a Raleigh resident and Army veteran, had the opportunity to speak up about his concerns from the shootings.
“It affects me because I’m a man of color, and there’s the expectation that if you do good, you keep your head down, you maintain a job, you take care of your family, then you should be OK,” Terrill said. “But instead of me having to worry about gang violence or domestic violence, I’m worried about those who are hired to protect me.”
Terrill said that he feels his life is threatened because of the way he looks.
“We need law enforcement to respect that, embrace that and even believe it’s the truth,” Terrill said. “I don’t care what color you are, I don’t care if you come from a military background or a police background, it doesn’t matter. You have to know in your mind that it’s not OK.”
Richardson discussed one of the current issues that affects and touches her based on her experiences growing up.
“I’m not going to lie, when I was young, I was rough,” Richardson said. “I grew up in a neighborhood that was not the best, and I indulged in things I should not have indulged in. But that did not mean that I deserved to die at 15 years old because I decided to do something that you wouldn’t do as a caucasian woman or a caucasian man.”
Richardson said her heart aches for people whose lives have been taken by police officers because others often write the victims off as “thugs” undeserving of a life.
“Everybody has a right to live, and people are changing every single day,” Richardson said.
Christopher Terrell, an attendee of the vigil and manager of Time Warner Cable Commission Processing-Business Class, sang “Amazing Grace,” during the vigil. While he sang the second verse, Richardson said the names of 17 black victims of police shootings including Treyvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner and Mike Brown.
After he sang, Terrell challenged the black community of the U.S. to unite together, addressing gang members specifically.
“What I realized over the past 24 hours is that we have to be a unified front,” Terrell said. “We can’t do it alone. All the people on the streets, all the people in the gangs, we need to call a truce. Whatever you got going on in the field, you got to get it together because if we’re still killing each other, they have no problem killing us.”
One strategy Richardson offered to the attendees for how they can act and be involved in the community is to vote in local elections. According to Richardson, the local elections are the ones that many aren’t aware of, but can most directly affect our community.
“We have to understand: Your council members, your sheriff, your mayor, your city leaders, they all require a vote,” Richardson said. “And that vote belongs to all of us.”
The end of Thursday night’s visual included a group prayer in which the attendees moved in a circle and held hands with the people beside them. Richardson led the prayer asking God for change within law enforcement and for everyone to get home safely.
Friday evening
More than 200 individuals gathered in Moore Square for the Vigil for Justice in Policing Friday evening. The event called for a change in policy while remembering the victims of police shootings. Not only were the names of the two victims from the past week recognized, but there was also a photo of Akiel Denkins, a black man killed by police on Bragg Street in southeast Raleigh in February this year, hanging from the podium.
Raleigh Police Accountability Community Taskforce organized the event, which included speakers from Justice Served NC, the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP and Black Workers for Justice.
Raleigh natives Bobbette Cross and James Cross Jr., cousins of Denkins, attended the vigil and displayed their signs in support, which read, “Stop the war on Black America.” Another attendee, Dawn Lifsey, had a sign listing names of black people killed by police at the vigil that read, “Eric, Mike, Tamir, Sandra, Freddie, Walter, Alton, No more hashtags!”
Dennis Spivey, a legal advocate with Policy Matters NC and leader of Coalition of Melanated People, questioned the crowd and asked them to answer by raising their hands.
“Let me ask you a question, do you really believe that black lives matter?,” Spivey asked. A wave of hands raised among the group of attendees. “Looks like we’re all on the same page.”
Spivey continued, and asked the crowd if anyone had heard of Ivan Ingram, a black man who was shot and killed by Raleigh police in 1991 during a drug bust, according to The News and Observer.
“They didn’t find any wrongdoing by the officer, but the city and the people in the city made so much noise about it, the DA had to revisit the case,” Spivey said. “Do we have that same opportunity today, and are we willing to make that come to fruition? We see these hands, now we need you to be active.”
Friday’s vigil also included a moment of silence, attendees lighting candles in the crowd, a petition by Raleigh PACT about better police accountability and the “Justice box,” a box in which attendees could write and place their ideas in to continue the movement and bring about serious change.
“We have submitted recommendations to the city council and to the city manager, and we’re currently in discussions with them,” said Wanda Hunter of Raleigh PACT. “We’re asking for deprioritization of marijuana, to improve anti-bias policing policies, strengthen their trainings and adapting policies to go with police body cams. We also want to create a community oversight board so that police do not continue to police themselves.”
Hunter also said the vigil was able to provide information to people who want to become active in making these changes in policy.
“It was important to hold this event because, right now, we’re in a state of emergency,” Hunter said. “Look at the list of black people that we’ve had that were killed by the police — it’s not something that’s getting better, it’s not something that’s going away, and we think that action needs to take place and it needs to start now.”
At the end of Friday’s vigil, Spivey invited the attendees to a meeting to organize those who were “seriously interested” in being part of the movement. Policy Matters NC and the Justice or Else Movement led this meeting right after the vigil.
“We’ve got to do this, we can’t risk anymore lives,” Hunter said. “People are dying. These are people’s fathers, these are people’s sons, these are people’s brothers. We can’t risk lives — they’re still lives. Black lives matter.”
Pullen Memorial Baptist Church is hosting a vigil and march event Saturday, July 9, from noon until 2 p.m. According to its Facebook event page, “all faiths and all community members [are welcome] to unify in a service of lament and reconciliation.” There will be a 30-minute vigil followed by a march to the state Capitol to “draw attention to the systemic issues of gun safety, racism, and violence plaguing our community.”
Dawn Lifsey displays a sign listing names of black people killed by police at the Vigil for Justice in Policing Friday evening in Moore Square. The event was hosted by Raleigh Police Accountability Community Taskforce, who also planned a community action discussion following the vigil.
