Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Protesters Rally For Of Racial Justice
PRAIRIE GROVE — About 40 people participated Saturday in a second peaceful protest for racial justice and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Garcie Marler, a Prairie Grove High student, organized the first one, held during the afternoon on June 4. She said she decided to plan another one to make it available to those who work and were not able to participate in the first one.
“We’re saying there’s a problem and we still need to protest,” Marler said Saturday.
About 15 people, mainly teenagers, protested on June 4. Saturday’s peaceful protest included people of all ages. Most people brought their own handmade signs and all wore masks for safety because of covid-19 concerns.
Signs had many messages, including “This isn’t a political issue. It’s a human rights issue,” “All lives cannot matter until Black lives matter,” and “Racism isn’t born, it’s taught.” Other signs said “hate has no home here,” “Liberty and Justice for Black lives,” “Love thy neighbor,” and “Hatred stirs up conflict but love covers all wrongs, Proverbs 10:12.”
Thousands of people have been protesting around the country since the May 25 death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt with his knee on Floyd’s neck for about eight minutes after he was detained. The officer and three other officers on the scene have been fired and charged in connection with the death.
Leeann Cook and her family of Prairie Grove, along with relatives from out of town, stood together with their signs to protest.
“We feel it’s important to raise awareness in small towns, especially in Prairie Grove,” Cook said. “We’ve had minority families who said they didn’t feel welcomed here and we want them to feel welcomed.”
Cook, who has lived in Prairie Grove her whole life, said she believes several things need to happen for racial justice in America.
She said people who are white need to recognize they have privileges, figure out what those privileges are and what needs to be done to level the playing field.
People need to educate themselves about what black people have had to go through, Cook said.
“There’s plenty of movies, books, TV shows, podcasts that people can listen to, to actually hear what black people are saying and have been saying for years. And it’s time that we listen,” Cook said.
Kristine Hall of Prairie Grove said she believed she had an obligation to participate in the protest.
“I’m here today because my mother marched with Martin Luther King well over 50 years ago and here we are again, not much progress has been made,” Hall said.
Hall said she believes the young people in the country are the ones who are going to make a difference this time for a change in racial justice.
Both Cook and Hall encouraged people to do their part by voting in the next election.
Everyone met at Mock Park in Prairie Grove and stood in front of the park along Buchanan Street. From there, they began walking toward Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park and stopped along the way so that people driving through Prairie Grove would have the chance to see why they were peacefully protesting.