Silence and strength Park packed in peaceful protest
madelaine.richards@reachplc.com
SILENCE fell over Pittville Park for eight minutes when hundreds of people knelt down in memory of a man whose death has sparked outrage across the world.
Hordes of people gathered in the park for the ‘Black Lives Matter Cheltenham Peaceful Protest’ on Monday, June 8.
Placards were held high in the air in response to the death of George Floyd, 46, who was killed after a white officer held him down by pressing a knee into his neck in Minneapolis on May 25.
Mr Floyd’s death has led to protests across both the US and here in the UK. Over the weekend crowds gathered in Gloucester Park to pay tribute while in Bristol a statue of slave trader Edward Colston was brought down from a plinth and dumped in the city’s harasked bour. In Cheltenham, speakers took to the bandstand to deliver passionate speeches.
One young girl delivered a powerful and impassioned poem that has resonated with not only the people who attended the ‘Black Lives Matter Cheltenham Peaceful Protest’ but around the world. Seven-year-old Nylah, who was born in Uganda and lives in St Paul’s in Cheltenham, performed her poem Black that she wrote with her dad Josh Jones and is based upon Dave’s song Black.
And after footage of Nylah’s performance was posted online, it went viral gaining attention across the world including in Australia and Uganda and she even appeared on national news. Speaking about what happened, Nylah’s dad Josh said: “We’re overwhelmed with messages and stuff and we’ve seen articles about it in Australia.
“People are saying it’s gone viral in Uganda and people from all over the place say that they’ve been sent it over Whatsapp.
“There was a live video taken from the BBC and some Australian news channel and then someone in my family posted the video on Facebook and Whatsapp and then somehow so many people have seen it and I’ve seen it on Twitter and people have tagged me.”
Nylah, who attends The Catholic Primary and Nursery School of Saint Gregory the Great, explained: “I was inspired by a song called Black from Dave that I really liked because I am black.
“I was born in Uganda and I love everything about being black. I wanted to make a poem like a remix of it so I my dad: ‘Could we make a remix of it?’ and we just made it.”
And she’s not stopping there: “I would like to read lots of poems in front of everybody because I like it when me and my dad work together to write a poem.”
At 3pm a mass kneeling took place for eight minutes where crowds of people took to their knees with their sings in the air as a powerful silence fell over the crowd.
Officers from Gloucestershire Constabulary joined in and knelt in the solemn gesture.
People tried to uphold social distancing measures and many wore personal protective equipment while police officers were on hand with masks for those who needed them.