‘JUST A BEGINNING’
1,000 MARCH FOR CHANGE IN LAW ENFORCEMENT
A protest organized by 16-yearold Penn Wood High student Tori Monroe brought more than 1,000 people to walk through Lansdowne and Yeadon on Sunday, including Yeadon Police Chief Anthony “Chachi” Paparo who kneeled on both knees at the event’s conclusion.
“We came together in these trying and challenging times to show that we are strong,” Monroe said through a bullhorn to the masses gathered at Kerr Field. “We will fight injustice together as one. You’ll see when people who are in power believe that all people are equal and operate with integrity, change is possible.”
The walk began in the parking lot across from the Lansdowne Theater on Lansdowne Avenue and went past the intersection with Baltimore Avenue and turned left at Baily Road to Yeadon Borough Hall, continuing until its final stop at Kerr Field. The peaceful demonstration included all races, ages and genders, and included everyone from Lansdowne and Yeadon borough officials to William Penn School District representatives to the Main Event Car Club with 30 cars at its end.
Departing William Penn School Superintendent Jane Harbert was among those walking, even as she has only nine days left in her role before retirement.
“It’s very emotional,” she said. “I’m glad I’m here to support my students and community. I will always have pride for these students and this community.”
Fifteen-year-old Ajanna Washington stood at the corner of Lansdowne and Baltimore avenues, where she joined the protest.
“I came out here basically to say that I’m not a threat to anyone,” she said. “My siblings, my mom, my dad, they’re not a threat to anybody. I just want to be myself in America and feel safe.”
Monroe shared some of her experiences beginning her education in a predominantly white elementary and middle school.
“I had questions,” she said. “Why aren’t any of these crayons my skin color? Why do none of the dolls look like me? I could not imagine that I would be fighting for my culture, my representation, my blackness for many more years. Nor would I imagine I would be here preaching today Black Lives Matter.”
She said the idea for the protest came to mind a few weeks ago.
“I needed to use my voice to tell everyone we’re done dying, this needs to stop,” she said, adding that she wanted to impart to the community “Make sure your voices are heard by any means necessary.”
Monroe did take note of the Yeadon Police Department.
“The Yeadon Police Department has really been on the progression curve with tackling racial injustice and systemic racism,” she said, adding they were a partner of the day’s event. “When you’re in a good system, good things can happen.”
Yeadon Police Chief Anthony “Chachi” Paparo has been a proponent of community policing and
“We came together in these trying and challenging times to show that we are strong. We will fight injustice together as one. You’ll see when people who are in power believe that all people are equal and operate with integrity, change is possible.”
Racial Intelligence and Diversity Training.
As he walked along the route, particularly in Yeadon, some black residents called out to him using his nickname. One older African-American woman was visibly moved as she clasped her hands and cried, “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” as he passed.
Paparo said he wanted to reinforce the good in policing and among the policies he instituted in his department is the mandate that an officer must step up if something could harm someone or someone’s property that’s done by another officer. He said this also applies to him, noting, “You can’t give up your integrity, you can’t give up your honor.”
When asked if he would take a knee, he hesitated.
“It’s like I’m replicating what the cop did,” he said of how former Officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd. “As a cop, I don’t know that I could kneel for eight minutes and 46 seconds and replicate the act because to me, I want to stand up and say, ‘No, I’m not going to do something like that.’”
So, someone on Next Door asked him if he believed in God and if he prayed.
Acknowledging that, Paparo said, “Yeah, I can do that, I’ll take two knees, to pray.”
And, he did just that when the masses reached Kerr Field and took a knee or laid on their stomachs in honor of George Floyd and all those killed in the line of police brutality.
Among those speaking at the field was state Sen. Anthony Williams, D-8 of Philadelphia, whose district includes nine eastern Delaware County towns.
“This misery of oppression, indecency to the American way has been systemic ever since we landed on these shores,” he said. “Black Lives Matter. They don’t matter more, they don’t matter less.”
He said despite the nation constantly being in conflict, it is always in search of truth, fairness, decency, kindness and compassion.
“Now in 2020, we are not taking a minor step forward, we are taking a major step forward for this nation that will make it stronger,” Williams said. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness should be every man, woman and child’s desire but most importantly, their right in this country.”
He added, “There are some people who occupy the blue who are not bad people and want to protect us, they get it.”
However, Williams added that those who say they want to defund the police, “They don’t want someone who truly does not respect all human beings to have a gun as a right and a badge as a shield.”
Monroe expanded on that concept, applying it to the situations in which black people have been killed by police officers.
“Black lives do not hold the same weight nor the same value because my people can’t drive, they can’t jog, they can’t walk, they can’t stand, they can’t wear a hoodie, they can’t sleep in their own homes without fear of being murdered and executed by the very main people who are supposed to protect and serve us,” she said. “I am done. We all are. We are here because we are done dying. We’re done being silent.
“This is just a beginning,” she said. “We have to make them change what is killing us - fighting against police brutality is the first vital step. We have more battles to fight in the war against systemic racism.”
— 16-year-old Penn Wood High student Tori Monroe, who organized the protest