‘THERE’S A CHANGE ON THE HORIZON’
Hub protesters vow to keep up pressure for reforms
Hundreds of people on Boston Common peacefully protested Wednesday afternoon in the wake of the police killing of a black man in Minneapolis, as momentum builds for the justice movement and activists “see change on the horizon.”
“This time is different. I feel it in my bones,” Faith Blass, 23, of Beverly, said after days of protests. “Peo
ple are really getting on the bandwagon, and starting to see we can’t do this alone. We won’t stop until justice is served.
“There’s a change on the horizon, finally,” she said.
George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis last week after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for more than 8 minutes.
That officer was charged last week, and the three other cops at the scene were charged on Wednesday.
“That wouldn’t have happened unless we had built this movement, but I want more than four racist cops to go to jail,” said Matthew Burchfield, 26, of Boston.
Of the other cops getting charged on Wednesday, Blass said, “It takes this every day. It takes signing petitions. It takes organizing events. It takes screaming until you can’t talk for the rest of the week.”
The protesters marched around the Common before taking to the streets as military police, Boston cops and state troopers looked on.
The protesters chanted, “George Floyd,” “Black lives matter,” “Not one more,” “No justice no peace,” and more.
They returned to the Common, and had a massive silent “die-in” for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time the Minneapolis police officer had his knee on Floyd’s neck. Floyd told the officer, “I can’t breathe,” as the officer kept up the pressure.
“This has been going on for so many years, and we have to change it,” said Brooke Lizotte, 29, of South Boston. “We need to change things throughout the whole system. Black people and minorities have been oppressed and it’s a larger problem. It’s systemic.”
“There has to be a change coming from this,” she said. “There has to be.”
A list of goals from the protest included: Ending qualified immunity for the police; taking away riot gear, tanks, tear gas, and other military equipment from police departments; disarming the police; and defunding the police.
Burchfield said, “This movement is not going away.”