Protesters vow to sustain momentum
Mood shifts from rage to peaceful calls for change, but no signs of slowdown
WASHINGTON—Protesters stirred by the death of George Floyd vowed Friday to turn an extraordinary outpouring of grief into a sustained movement as demonstrations shifted to a calmer, but no less determined, focus on addressing racial injustice.
By early afternoon on Friday, demonstrations resumed for an 11th day around the United States with continued momentum as the mood of the protests largely shifted from explosive anger to more peaceful calls for change. Despite the change in tone, the country’s most significant demonstrations in a halfcentury — rivalling those during the civil rights and Vietnam War eras — showed no signs of dissipating. Formal and impromptu memorials to Floyd stretched from Minneapolis to North Carolina, where family were gathering Saturday to mourn him, and beyond.
Josiah Roebuck, a Kennesaw
State University student and organizer of a demonstration that drew about 100 people Friday in an Atlanta suburb, said he was confident that momentum will be maintained.
“Once you start, you’re going to see this every day,” Roebuck said.
“I just want minorities to be represented properly.”
Demonstration leaders have employed various organizing tools, including social media, which Roebuck said he used to gather people for the protest outside a Kennesaw store selling Confederate memorabilia.
“Social media is a big influencer today,” he said.
Protests around the country had initially been marred by the setting of fires and smashing of windows, but Friday marked at least the third day of more subdued demonstrations, including a heartfelt tribute to Floyd in Minneapolis that drew family members, celebrities, politicians and civil-rights advocates on Thursday. Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a fierce eulogy and outlined plans for a commemorative march on Washington in August, vowing that the movement will “change the whole system of justice.”
Meanwhile, in a sign the protesters’ voices were being heard, more symbols of slavery and the Confederacy came down. Alabama’s port city of Mobile removed a statue of a Confederate naval officer early Friday after days of protests there, while Fredericksburg, Va., removed a 176-year-old slave auction block from downtown after several years of efforts by the NAACP.