Justice For George Floyd March Against Racist State Violence Happened In Beacon On Saturday
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Photo Credit: Video screenshot, A Little Beacon Blog
The march began at Pohill Park in Beacon on Main Street at about 3pm, which is across the street from Town Hall and the Police Department, and is the location for most marches and parades. The march was organized by Southern Dutchess Resist!, and mirrored a march in New Paltz also scheduled for Saturday. The march was designed to go from the far west end of Main Street to Rite-Aid, and marchers were directed to turn around at the traffic light.
Marchers walked peacefully and enthusiastically with each other, wearing face masks and carrying signs that read (this is a sampling):
“Justice For George”
“Stop Killer Cops”
“Racism Is Deadly”
“It Stops With Cops: Good Cops Don’t Let Bad Cops Kill Defenseless Citizens”
Signs encouraged cars to honk in support, which several did. In this video, a line of cars are stopped at a red traffic light while honking, When the light changed to green, the cars proceed.
The message of the march, according to its Facebook page, is: “We are marching in solidarity with those demanding Justice for George Floyd who was executed by racist police in Minneapolis this past week. We are marching for justice in his case and for all colonized people suffering at the hands of the white supremacist occupation in the United States and across the globe. We are marching for justice, against police brutality and against racism and state violence.“
Immunocompromised people were encouraged not to attend, but to participate from home in other ways.
This march happened on a day when protests, which have been happening in Minneapolis for 6 days so far, have spread to other cities across the United States. Some protests have lead cities to impose curfews, including LA, Denver, Columbus, Cincinnati Minneapolis, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and others. The National Guard has been activated or requested by Minnesota, Georgia, Ohio, Colorado, Denver and Kentucky (CNN).
The officer who killed George Floyd has been arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. His bail has been set at $500,000, according to this CNN article.
The other officers who also kneeled on Mr. Floyd have not been charged. While the police report says that he resisted arrested, camera footage of the incident does not show that, according to the CNN article. CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta contributed this thought: “An officer should have started CPR after one of them told the others he couldn't find a pulse.”
The final message on the organizer’s page for Saturday’s march in Beacon was: “--BE SAFE, BE WELL, BE DECENT of course.”
For those looking to get involved with an activism group, there is the Beacon Activist Collective, which “is a collaborative group formed on the strength of the community concern of citizens of Beacon, around the potential erosion of civil rights, social and environmental justice occurring after the election of” this current president.
