Local protests demonstrate pride in unity

From the Main Line to Berks County and nearly every small town in-between, the past week has been marked by a show of unity among residents and police in stark contrast to the scenes of violent clashes and looting scarring our senses from TV and social media.

The atmosphere in our towns offers some hope in the face of division and hatred racking the nation.

In Chester County on Thursday, 8,000 people in Coatesville and West Chester joined marches. In Delaware County, crowds stood on sidewalks of busy intersections at rush hour. In Kennett Square of Chester County and in Norristown, Pottstown and Lansdale of Montgomery, along Lancaster Avenue in Delaware County, and in Boyertown and Reading in Berks, citizens and police joined in sharing a message: Black Lives Matter.

Police knelt alongside protesters against the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in Minneapolis who was held to the ground by Police Officer Derek Chauvin while three other officers stood by. All four police officers have been fired and charged in the death, caught on a video that sparked outrage around the world.

Local gatherings were organized by individuals on impulse or inspired by posts on social media. Troy Rivera, 22, who led the Pottstown event with friend Nate Smith, said it was the first thing he had ever organized, not including snowball fights.

“There were a lot of people on Facebook saying Pottstown could not have a peaceful protest, so we decided to prove them wrong,” said Rivera. The march last weekend and demonstration at borough hall brought out a few hundred residents, church leaders and police, who were cheered by residents for participating.

A Tuesday evening Lansdale demonstration was inspired by a Facebook post from borough resident Josh Nielsen, who said he stood alone on Monday night in peaceful protest after seeing a friend in Boyertown do the same the night before. Lansdale Police Chief Mike Trail and a handful of officers kept a watchful eye on several hundred protesters lining Main Street, taking a knee several times as the group knelt, with fists raised, for the eight minutes and 48 seconds that Floyd lay dying on a sidewalk in Minnesota.

In Boyertown, the line of people stretched more than six blocks along East Philadelphia Avenue. The Berks County town’s history and reputation of Ku Klux Klan activity did not go unrecognized. “We have the opportunity to be a beacon of light, a refuge of hope,” said Don Heller, who helped organize the event. Heller, 39, a former pastor, said when he moved to Boyertown with his family in 1990, he was astonished to see KKK clansmen, dressed in the traditional white robes and hoods, handing out pamphlets on a street corner in the center of town.

He said his intent in organizing last week’s rally was to help others see that progress has been made and that “black lives matter in Boyertown.”

“To get change, we need more events that took place like today,” said Chief William Holdsworth of the Kennett Square Borough Police Department. Protesters and police knelt alongside each other on State Street, at the intersection of Route 82, in prayer. Kennett Square is home to just over 6,600 borough residents, and 1,000 of them joined the demonstration.

In the city of Reading, organizers of a march through town last weekend stressed the crowd of about 500 were not walking through the streets in protest: they were walking in unity.

Whether labeled protests or demonstrations or unity marches, the events brought together citizens representing every race, culture and income level. The involvement of police showed an effort to build mutual trust with people of color and the poor and disenfranchised who live in our towns.

Pride in community and humility for misunderstandings and long-held prejudices were the message behind the Black Lives Matter banners and signs in view everywhere during this past week. This is where the conversations to combat racism begin.

We have a long way to go in this nation to prove unity. In the towns of our region, we are taking the first steps in that direction by joining peacefully and with a purposeful message to move forward together.