Vigil held for Daunte Wright on Sunday
Speakers call on the community members to end hate and racism
“Be a part of something, stand up for something. Have a conversation with some that don’t look like you. Education through communication.”
— Edward Russell, Jr.
About three dozen people gathered around a candlelit memorial Sunday at Vacaville’s Creekwalk Plaza to mourn the loss and honor the memory of another Black man killed by a police officer.
Organized by the Solano Unity Network, the vigil for Daunte Wright, the 20-year-old man fatally shot last week by police officer Kimberly Ann Potter during a traffic stop for an outstanding arrest warrant in Brooklyn Center, Minn., featured civic leaders and community activists speaking about Wright’s life and the steps needed to bring change and stop the hate.
Kameron Holzendorf of the Kampaign for Change said that he was tired of waking up every morning and fearing for “people’s lives.”
“I’m not an early bird. I’m not a night owl. I am an exhausted falcon,” Holzendorf said during the vigil. “I’m tired. So, so tired.”
Holzendorf called out the “clueless 2-percent” and told them to “get in a lab” and study humanity to learn that all people are the same inside.
“There is some good in the worst of us, and some evil in the best of us,” Holzendorf said. “When you discover this, you are less prone to hate your enemies. We have within us, strength, patience, and passion to reach for the stars to change the world to end this hate. No one can make us feel inferior without our permission. Darkness can not drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate can not drive out hate. Only love can do that.”
Speaking over the sound of a patrol car’s siren on East Monte Vista Avenue, Vacaville School Board President Michael Kitzes said that as a White man, he could only imagine what a Black man feels when they hear a police siren.
Vacaville School Board member Kelly Welsh echoed Kitzes’ remarks, saying that as a mother of a young son, she could only think what Wright’s mother must have felt.
“It’s just heartbreaking,” Welsh said. “I don’t have to worry about my young son being afraid of the police or being taken out of his car shot.”
As he looked at a portrait depicting Wright with his young son, Vacaville City Council member Michael Silva spoke about family, pointing out that 18 years, a person would be missing from Wright’s portrait.
Silva also relayed a little of his life growing up a “Brown man” in Vacaville.
“I don’t know what it is like to be a Black man, but I do know what it’s like to Brown growing up in these streets, he said.
“At least once a week,” Silva said he’d have a police officer say to him: “‘We pulled you over because you fit the description of a suspect.’”
“It’s a common theme,” he said.
Silva spoke of a time when his mother, who is White, saw him get pulled over by the police. He said she was shocked to witness her son being detained, questioned and searched.
“I said, mom, it’s OK, this happens all the time. He’s just looking for information. I’ll be home soon,” Silva said.
As he spoke about the hate and racism that has seen people of color killed throughout the country, Ed- ward Russell Jr. of Vacaville paused and reflected that the picture of Wright could be his son.
Russell spoke about the community being part of the solution to end the hate and racism.
“Be a part of something, stand up for something,” he said. “Have a conversation with some that don’t look like you. Education through communication.”
The vigil concluded with a moment of silence for Wright.