Who are Arlington’s protesters? This rapper is rallying city’s youth for change
As her voter registration drive in Arlington ended, Sammy Cooper sighed.
Her Friday evening registration drive in Vandergriff Park attracted a handful of new voters. Families and children wandered over for a cold drink or food that Cooper’s family and friends prepared. Cooper made rounds to the nearby baseball diamond and play area to invite people for some food or to register with little luck.
“Y’all,” she said to a couple people who stuck around. “Getting young people to vote is gonna be difficult.”
But the 20-year-old rapper and call center employee has rallied hundreds over the last few weeks following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In a matter of hours, she threw together the first protest in Arlington after seeing protests in Dallas, Fort Worth and Mansfield.
“If we don’t stand up for us or if we don’t defend us or if we don’t speak up for what we believe in, ain’t nobody else gonna do it,” Cooper said.
Cooper isn’t the sole protest and event organizer in Arlington. The Arlington and UT Arlington NAACP chapters hosted their own rally and march June 13. Previously, UTA’s School of Social Work held a march and other individuals have put on their own events.
But Cooper is part of a wave of young people calling for change in a way older activists and organizers have not previously seen.
“It’s clearly the young people who are coming out and stepping up and asserting themselves in ways that I think a lot of folks were not expecting,” said Jason Shelton, director for the Center for African American Studies at UTA. “Not just once or twice, but over weeks now.”
Cooper’s events come as Arlington City Council members decide how to explore racial inequity and economic disparity across local agencies, and as local organizations figure out how to translate people’s frustration and pain surrounding the topics into change.
Cooper said she’s committed to organizing more events until people can see the importance of civic engagement.
“This is the first step to getting involved and voting first,” Cooper said. “Once we can get them to do that, they won’t be so hesitant to do something else or the next step that comes after that because they obviously see it’s not easy but they see how easy it could be.”
‘Arlington’s not exempt from anything’
When Cooper could not find a protest in the city, she drafted a flyer for a peaceful protest near Arlington Highlands. In a matter of hours, the 2017 Mansfield Timberview High School graduate was leading 200 people as they flew banners and hoisted signs atop the Center Street bridge overlooking Interstate 20. Motorists watched below, some honking their horns, raising fists through open sunroofs and cutting off traffic to leave their cars and cheer.
Cooper said she wanted to open community discussion in a city where people are “stuck in their ways” or otherwise too afraid to speak up.
“Arlington’s not exempt from anything. It’s not like we have some type of shield that covers us from all the bad stuff that happens in the world,” she said.
Around 100 people listened during her second event at S.J. Stovall park as people discussed their brushes with biases and prejudice. They finished with a march down Sublett Road. Her latest event at Vandergriff Park continued that discussion, albeit on a smaller scale, as around a dozen visited the pavilion and a couple people stayed.
Among those who stayed were her family and friends, many of whom have rallied behind Cooper at her events. As Cooper prepared for the voter drive, her mother, LaTanya Cooper, cooked hamburgers and hot dogs for anyone attending. After attending all of her daughter’s events thus far, LaTanya Cooper said she’s watched her daughter leverage her social media following with her desire to help others.
“I think she’s bringing it all together,” she said.
Johnasen Pack, the family’s pastor at Bridge Builders International Church in Arlington, said he’s followed and supported Sammy Cooper through her events. He recalled a text exchange with Cooper after the first protest on the Center Street bridge. Pack said Cooper told him she found her purpose.
“This is dear for my heart for her to want to help people, to unify people, and that’s incredible,” Pack said.
City, community explores need for change
City Council members promised at their June 9 meeting to explore racial inequities in law enforcement policies and disparities in Arlington. The council discussed assembling a task force to explore practices across government entities but has not decided on its approach.
Since Floyd’s killing, Arlington Police Department notified its staff that vascular neck restraints have been reclassified as deadly force. Police have also participated in various community forums and discussions, Sgt. Michael Chitty, a police spokesman, wrote in an email.
“Our leaders will be meeting with city council over the next few weeks to work with them on any changes may need to be made,” he said.
Marvin Sutton, an Arlington City Council member representing District 3, said changes require resident input at every turn in order to affect the change protesters desire.
“I could put a proclamation up or a resolution up, and until you challenge me in a meeting and I have to show you the results, that’s the only time change will take place in any city,” he said.
Cooper said she plans to hold larger, more organized events featuring officials and advocates. Although she’s not interested in making community organizing her full-time job, she said she’ll keep organizing to make it easier for other groups to take the lead — and to make things easier for the younger generations.
“You don’t want them to see what we’re seeing. In order for us to change that, we’re gonna have to keep doing what we’re doing,” she said.
This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
