Preston plans Black Lives Matter protest

— It’s been a quiet spring

Preston and summer — too quiet, residents Mike and Christina Sizer felt.

So the couple organized the town’s first Black Lives Matter protest against police brutality for 1 p.m. Saturday, July 25 at Preston Community Park, 10 Lincoln Park Road Ext. Participants are asked to gather in the gazebo area of the park, rain or shine. All participants are asked to wear protective face masks. Details of the program are still being worked out, the Sizers said.

One speaker will be Lauren Gee of New London, who will bring a black hearse bearing the names of dozens of Black people who were victims of police brutality. Gee has brought the hearse to other protests and rallies in southeastern Connecticut. The Sizers met Gee at a Norwich protest and invited her to the Preston event.

The Sizers said they organized the protest, with publicity help from Roberta Charpentier, after seeing that large and small towns throughout southeastern Connecticut have hosted rallies, protests and demonstrations, even towns with small minority populations. According to U.S. Census data from 2018, Preston’s population of 4,666 residents is 86% white, 5.8% Asian and only 0.8% African American.

“Preston has been silent,” Christina Sizer, who is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, said.

The couple posted the event on the closed group Preston Community Voice Facebook page. But the post was removed by the page administrators a few times without explanation, Mike Sizer said.

Then Mike Sizer was banned from the group and Christina was shut off for one week.

The Sizers quickly gained support from others, who have since shared the event posting on their Facebook and other social media outlets, including the Positively Preston Facebook page and on Facebook pages in Norwich, Griswold, Ledyard and Mashantucket.

“The majority of people in town are white, and they don't really know what to do, Christina Sizer said. “They don't know how to attend a protest, how to participate.”

Mike Sizer, who is white, said he hopes people at least will come and listen even if they don't feel the issues affect them directly.

“That's kind of our goal in this, just educate,” Mike Sizer said. “Let them know this is what it's like out there.”

The Sizers have four children ranging in age from 4 to 16, two girls and two adopted boys who are their nephews. Three attend Preston Veterans' Memorial School and one attends the agri-science program at Ledyard High School.

The Sizers said they have felt welcomed in Preston by most people in town since they arrived five years ago, but “a handful” of others have left them feeling uncomfortable or frustrated.

Mike Sizer said the children are all active in “every sport possible” and all school activities. Christina Sizer said she mentioned a couple of incidents on her Facebook post that she had brushed off at the time. Commenters supported her in response, she said.

“That's part of our initial frustration,” Mike Sizer said. “We've been blessed with great kids. Our 10-year-old is wanted on every sports team. And we want to show support for the activists, and we didn't get support.”