Discontent bubbles up during local unity rally
Protesters’ shouts disrupt otherwise peaceful gathering
The Sunday event had been billed as a coming together moment of unity and a plea for the violence to end, all wrapped in an acknowledgement that any life, whether black or police blue, was worthy of respect.
And then the moment changed.
When Houston’s interim police chief took the stage, the rumblings of distrust turned to a roar.
“Stop killing us!” came a shout as about 20 mostly black protesters raised fists and moved forward through the crowd of about 300 who had gathered at City Hall. Police on the scene visibly tensed and formed a line across the steps. Mothers drew children closer as the tension escalated, though in the end the protest remained nonviolent.
Chief Martha Montalvo tried to keep talking over the rising volume, as did subsequent speakers, but the mood had been altered from one of coexistence and appreciation for law enforcement to an example of just how raw the divide has become for some.
“There is a right to be passionate. I’m not minimizing what happened,” Bishop James Dixon II, head of Houston’s The Community of Faith Church, told the angry protesters, some wearing Black Lives Matters T-shirts.
“Yes, you are!” one woman screamed back, tears streaming down her face. Nearby, another protester held aloft a sign that listed the names of eight black victims killed by police, including Alva Braziel, who was shot and killed early Saturday in Hous-
“Am I next?” the signed asked.
Mayor Sylvester Turner took his turn at the microphone and tried to diffuse the situation, reminding the protesters that he, as a black man, understood.
“I know we have a lot of work to do. There’s a lot of pain and a lot of anger,” he acknowledged, but added, “The only way we can truly move forward is to work together.
Hundreds had gathered earlier at Houston’s historic Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, symbolic in its founding by a former slave, to hear a collection of the city’s religious leaders speak with the fervor of a Sunday sermon on how important it was to not give into hate and to heal the wounds, opened wide last week in the fatal police shootings of black men in Baton Rouge and in suburban St. Paul, Minn. In the midst of the outcry over those killings, five police officers in Dallas were killed by a sniper Thursday night.
From the church, hundreds walked the handful of blocks to City Hall where the event took on a festive vibe with live music, prayer and more speakers, including Houston-born rapper Paul Wall.
Still, though most seemed to agree with the message of unity there were signs of discontent.
Shannon Edans, a 25-year-old, stood in the crowd with a sign on his back: “My Mom is Afraid (4 her) 4 Sons.”
He said that his mother had printed out cards for each of her sons to remind them exactly what to say and not to say to police if they were ever stopped.
Despite a call from the stage for people to embrace those around them, an undercurrent of anger remained in the air.
“I think this is the start of a movement,” said Tina Sylvester, 33, of Houston after the event concluded. While she did not join the protesters, she said she was with them in spirit.
“I have very mixed feelings about the police. I don’t trust the police,” she said.
She added she thought interrupting the speakers was a good wake-up call that people wanted action, not words.