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Peaceful marches after turbulent weekend

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Illinois

Walking north on Ninth Street in Springfield as part of a rally protest in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, Jade Pearson admitted she was “overwhelmed” by the day.

Overwhelmed in a good way, though.

“It was peaceful. It was inclusive and I thought (the organizers) did a good,” said Pearson of Loami, who was with her wife, Shekeira Pearson. “I hope that people are listening. Everyone deserves a voice. Everyone deserves justice.”

Protesters marched from the steps of the Capitol Building around downtown Springfield twice, as the ranks swelled to over 1,000.

A commander for the Springfield Police Department, reached Monday afternoon while the rally was going on, said there were no problems with the crowds. The decision to eventually block off Capitol Avenue and Second Street around the capitol was based on numbers, said Andrew Dodd, commander of field operations.

“It gave them a safe place to convene,” Dodd said.

The rally was organized by Allaijah Davis, 15, of Lanphier High; Ariona Fairlee, 16, who attends Southeast High; and Nykeyla Henderson, 17, also a student at Lanphier.

* News-Gazette…

A day after looting led to businesses closing early and mayors issuing citywide curfews, hundreds — if not thousands — marched peacefully through C-U’s streets Monday in a protest that lasted nearly three hours.

It was, in the words of the president of the Champaign-Urbana’s Black Lives Matter chapter, “amazing.”

And after Sunday’s unrest, Satchez Johnson added, “I’m glad that people still came and they had faith in it.”

The diverse throng of people marched throughout the afternoon — from the Champaign County Courthouse to the Urbana Police Department and eventually to the Champaign Police Department.

* Elgin…

A protest remembering George Floyd with chants of “Black Lives Matter” and “No Justice, No Peace” took place passionately but peacefully Monday evening in Elgin.

The crowd of several hundred people gathered first along Kimball Avenue and grew as it made its way in front of the police station on Douglas Street. Police command staff, including Police Chief Ana Lalley, roamed through the crowd talking to people as other officers wore helmets, face shields or body shields, standing by and observing.

Not everything was peaceful and quiet yesterday. We’ll get to that in a bit.

From what I can tell, though, most of Chicago was pretty quiet last night as well.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jun 2, 20 @ 9:59 am

Comments

Allaijah, Ariona, and Nykeyla we’re proud of your actions to improve the community. The next step is to engage in the political process by volunteering and getting friends and allies to volunteer to help defeat GOP elected officials. There will be no positive change until that task is accomplished.

It’s a simple idea, but a hard task.

Comment by Norseman Tuesday, Jun 2, 20 @ 10:08 am
A ray of hope for humanity.

Comment by Skeptic Tuesday, Jun 2, 20 @ 10:14 am
Thank you to Allaijah Davis, Ariona Fairlee and Nykeyla Henderson.

Comment by The Captain Tuesday, Jun 2, 20 @ 12:24 pm
Springfield has been a good example of peaceful protest. I know lots of good people live here, but given the way trouble has come to a lot of towns, I was pleasantly surprised by the local organizations.

Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Jun 2, 20 @ 3:17 pm
I was impressed with how well the Springfield protests went off. Kudos to the organizers and everyone that chose to participate responsibly. The worst of it, outside of a couple of incidents in the west side shopping areas that weren’t actually associated with the organized protests, was the noise of honking cars and marchers at a late hour. If that’s the “worst” that happens, I think we can all be okay with it.

Comment by Osborne Smith III Tuesday, Jun 2, 20 @ 7:18 pm