BUFFS MARCH IN BOULDER
More than 500 including athletes protest in Boulder
Former Colorado wide receiver and current Jacksonville Jaguars player Laviska Shenault Jr., above center, joins his former teammates in a moment of silence during a Black Lives Matter protest and march on Friday in Boulder. The march was in response to the recent killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a white police officer. At right, CU basketball player Dallas Walton holds a “Black Lives Matter” sign as he walks with more 500 people including other athletes, coaches, administrators and citizens.
BOULDER» Speaking to a crowd in Boulder’s Central Park on Friday morning, KD Nixon walked over to a police officer and shook his hand.
“I couldn’t do that growing up. I was scared to do that,” said Nixon, a young black man who grew up in DeSoto, Texas, and came to the University of Colorado to play football three years ago.
Nixon and dozens of other CU athletes, coaches, administrators and community members gathered on Friday for Buffs March. An estimate of more than 500 people, including police officers, took part in the roughly mile-long walk to support the Black Lives Matter movement and protest against racial injustice in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
On May 25, Floyd, a black man from Minneapolis, died after being restrained by police. Floyd pleaded with officers that he couldn’t breathe as they held him to the ground and one officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes, 46 seconds.
Those who participated in Friday’s Buffs March, took a knee for 8:46, remaining silent throughout with fists raised, at the end of the walk.
“It’s a blessing,” Nixon said of seeing so many people take part in the protest. “This is authentic. This ain’t nobody trying to, you know, bring racism against people. No, this is everyone versus police brutality. This is everyone standing together saying, ‘Let’s be stronger.’”
Floyd’s death is the latest high-profile incident of police killing black people and it has prompted demand for change and an end to racial injustice across the country. There have been protests and riots around the nation in the aftermath of Floyd’s death. CU student-athletes wanted to do their part, in a peaceful way.
“I felt it was important to do this because this is something that’s not just happening because of George Floyd,” CU football player Chris Miller said. “We’re doing this for all 400 years of slavery, the oppression, Jim Crow, you know, next thing after next thing. It’s sad to say this, but this stuff is regular. You see it happening to somebody and it’s like, ‘Damn,’ but in reality I know it could be me. I’m out here and standing up for this and I’m trying to be peaceful, because we can’t be violent because that just hasn’t worked. I’m just going try to use our platform, whatever we can just to help and change.”
Head football coach Karl Dorrell, along with other coaches at CU, have had virtual meetings with their teams and let them voice their opinions and frustration about the racial injustice. Hearing those conversations sparked ideas for taking action.
“Our team, including coaches, we all were frustrated last weekend, and we came in Monday just feeling like we’re tired of hearing all the rhetoric about how things need to change,” Dorrell said. “We wanted to do something with action to express what we’re all about.
“We want to embrace each other’s cultures. We need to create better understanding of each other. I talked to my team that they’re the best instruments of change. … Look at this turn out (of support) and that’s what I think is going to open their eyes about how important their viewpoint is in our society. Our best change is really to empower our young people.”