DIVERSE CROWDS PROTEST RACISM, POLICE BRUTALITY
South Florida demonstrators are peaceful and passionate on ninth day of rallies
BOCA RATON — Demonstrators waved signs near an upscale shopping destination in Boca Raton, chanted on Hollywood Boulevard and were accompanied by a marching band on the streets of Riviera Beach on Sunday during the ninth day of protests in South Florida against racism and police brutality.
The gatherings brought hundreds of people to events held throughout throughout Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
The protesters were passionate — and peaceful.
They carried signs in Boca Raton that read “Silence is Violence,” “All Lives Can’t Matter
Until All Black Lives Matter” and “Make America Not Racist for the First Time Ever.”
Chants at the Hollywood protest included, “What do we want? Freedom! When do we want it? Now!” and “No Justice, no peace. Prosecute the police.”
A banner in Riviera Beach paid homage to “Lives Taken by PBC Cops” in large letters. It had 21 names.
The protests are part of a national movement against systemic racism and police treatment of black Americans that began with the May 25 killing of George Floyd.
Floyd died after a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine min
“I don’t want to see people like those in my own family killed for the color of their skin. It goes back centuries.”
Haylee Perry, protester in Boca Raton
utes. Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man, was handcuffed on the pavement and gasping that he couldn’t breathe. Chauvin has been charged with murder, and three other officers have been charged with aiding and abetting for not intervening.
A week ago, violence and clashes with police were the dominant images from protests in Fort Lauderdale and Miami. The scenes were much different on Sunday, with police at some demonstrations clearing routes for the protesters.
In Miami, historian Marvin Dunn and Mayor Francis Suarez led a “compassion caravan” of cars to significant locations for the black community — including the place where five white police officers beat Arthur McDuffie, an unarmed black man, to death in 1979 in Liberty City. The acquittal of four officers the following year sparked what became known as the McDuffie riots, in which 18 people were killed.
In Boca Raton on Sunday, demonstrators began gathering at 9 a.m., lining about three blocks on Federal Highway near Mizner Park, an outdoor shopping mall adorned with towering royal palms.
It grew steadily through the morning to more than 150 people and ended early in the afternoon. Nearby, diners at the patio of Max’s Grille were sipping drinks and eating lunch as demonstrators chanted.
As the Boca Raton protest ended, hundreds of people began gathering at Arts Park in Young Circle in Hollywood.
Gregory LeDon, a jazz saxophone player from Miami, brought his soprano saxophone and played a song he said was entitled “I can’t breathe.”
“I hope we can get people to be honest and real and just get along. You don’t have to like me, but don’t hate me just because of who I am,” he said. “And to see the diversity out here, that just blows me away.”
Hollywood Police, and a smaller force of Broward Sheriff ’s deputies, many wearing helmets and face shields, and holding riot shields, were at the Hollywood protest. An armored vehicle was also present.
Police Maj. Norris Redding said he didn’t want people marching in those lanes because of potential diners — there were only a few — but police allowed demonstrators to march west in the eastbound lanes. Police kept pace with marchers, using the westbound lanes they didn’t want marchers to use.
Late in the afternoon, the Hollywood demonstrators split into different groups, with some at Young Circle and others marching to the police station. Several roads in the area were blocked to car traffic.
Demonstrators responded with chants: “I don’t see no riot here, why are you in riot gear?” One person has been detained by police. By 7 p.m., the protest ended and almost everyone left.
The Boca Raton event was largely free of rancor, though one woman came up to the group saying all lives matter and protesters shouted “go home Karen.” Karen is the derisive name people on social media use to describe entitled, middle-aged, middle class white women.
Video posted on social media showed demonstrators heading down a street in Riviera Beach on Sunday afternoon, accompanied by a marching band. Television stations and social media reported demonstrations in Homestead.
Miami Lakes and Miami Shores. Early Sunday evening, hundreds of people were gathered in the Wynwood section of Miami.
Some of Sunday’s protests were smaller than demonstrations on Saturday; the Miami Herald reported that some Miami-Dade county events attracted 100 or fewer participants.
The crowds were racially diverse and spanned generations.
Kassadi Smith, 18, a student at Florida Atlantic University, said she wants a better life for her generation — one in which people aren’t judged based on the color of their skin.
“Everybody has to have compassion for one another,” she said at the Boca Raton gathering. “Getting out here is of upmost importance — not just for our future but for our past so people see we’ve grown and changed.”
Laurie Tanner, 66, a retired school teacher from Pompano Beach, said she was protesting in part because of the inequities she witnessed in the educational system.
“I’ve been watching this injustice go on for a years, the schoolto-prison pipeline,” she said.
One of the people at the Boca Raton protest, Haylee Perry, 20, said she watched the video of Floyd’s death with horror, and it showed her that work still needs to be done more than 50 years after the civil rights movement.
“I don’t want to see people like those in my own family killed for the color of their skin,” she said. “It goes back centuries.”
Perry said she isn’t just planning to protest. In November, she said she will cast a ballot in her first presidential election.