Scores of protesters in East Liberty decry police shooting of Minnesota man
Almost 150 people gathered outside the East Liberty Target near the “Say Their Names” mural during a protest “in solidarity with Brooklyn Center” on Tuesday evening.
Protesters decried the killing of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minn., on Sunday. Mr. Wright was shot by police Officer Kim Potter about 10 miles from the courthouse where former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin is on trial in the death of George Floyd last May.
Much of the conversation during the protests was centered around learning how to change racist behaviors and actions.
“Marching isn’t enough,” said one speaker, who went by Nique C. “What are you doing to dismantle the system? What are you going to do when you get home?”
After a few chants of “no justice, no peace,” Nique, who did the majority of the speaking, asked some of the white protesters why they were there.
“I’m recovering from white supremacist conditioning, which has all of us in chains,” answered one speaker, who went by Christine.
Nique told the white protesters in the crowd they should be there to learn how to disrupt racism in their everyday lives and listen to Black voices and the Black community.
“Black people are tired of always being told our lives are at risk. It brings me joy when I see a Black person, who’s proud to be Black, leading a protest,” said one attendee who wanted to be identified only as S.B. “It’s important to have Black joy as well in the protests.”
From the intersection of Centre and Penn avenues, the crowd marched up Centre toward Mellon Park, chanting along the way things like “one solution, revolution,” “say his name: Daunte
Wright” and “we want justice for Black people.”
Inside the park, a small splinter group ended up leaving after a brief disagreement with organizers.
After the group of about 10 people left, they stood at the Mellon Park entrance on Fifth Avenue, occasionally chanting “out of the park and into the streets.”
As the splinter group was chanting outside the park, Nique drew the emphasis of the event back to teaching those in attendance there are more actions than marching.
“Marching and chanting, what did you learn today?” Nique had asked the crowd. “I want you to learn something.”
“I’m here to learn to love myself,” S.B. said after the protest had ended, “and to hear other Black people, to see other Black people, because I grew up in a place where I didn’t and it made being seen and heard hard.”
S.B., who is 22, has spent the majority of her life in Pittsburgh.
Around 8:30 p.m. the crowd moved from the park to in front of Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto’s Point Breeze house, where the lights were on but it was unclear if he was home.
Outside the mayor’s house, the crowd chanted for him to come outside and one speaker called him the “epitome of white supremacy.”
“We don’t feel safe in Bill Peduto’s city,” Nique said to the crowd. “We just want peace. We just want to make some change.”
A lot of the speeches during the protest were about moving past just marching and protesting, but moving into action during people’s everyday lives.
“This marching and protesting isn’t doing what you think,” Nique said. “I know protesting in Pittsburgh is very tough. It is not a city, it is a small town. We do not
have the city for protesting. It’s listening to the Black voices, not talking over them. We’re here today, to educate you.”
The crowd left Mr. Peduto’s house and returned to Mellon Park when police on foot began walking up the street toward the crowd. Though this protest ended peacefully, many people in attendance were at the protest last August when protesters were outside the mayor’s house and moved into the park, where police deployed crowd control devices, including pepper spray.
There were no incidents throughout the protest or as the crowd marched back to the Target and then dispersed shortly after 9 p.m.